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Fred MacMurray was nearly cast as Perry Mason
The Absent-Minded Attorney?
Perry Mason existed before Raymond Burr, and the character has carried on in his wake, as well. While nobody will ever be as recognizable in the courtroom, many actors have argued the case as the iconic criminal defense lawyer.
In the 1930s, Warner Bros. released six Perry Mason films, in which three different actors played the title attorney. Warren William was the first to play Mason in the series, appearing in the first four movies, The Case of the Howling Dog, The Case of the Curious Bride, The Case of the Lucky Legs, and finally The Case of the Velvet Claws. He was succeeded by actors Ricardo Cortez (in The Case of the Black Cat) and Donald Woods (in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop).
Next, Perry Mason appeared in a CBS Radio serial. There, the fictional lawyer was portrayed by several different actors before John Larkin settled into the role in 1947. While the show began as an adaptation of the Erle Stanley Gardner stories, it grew to diverge from the source material, focusing instead on action instead of courtroom drama.
The character's continued popularity ushered Perry Mason onto the small screen, as CBS readied a new incarnation on TV. While we know that Raymond Burr would star in the title role, according to Michael Starr's 2008 biography, Burr was nowhere near the first choice. Hiding in Plain Sight: The Secret Life of Raymond Burr lists, among the hundreds of actors who auditioned, William Holden, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., William Hopper, Richard Egan, Mike Connors, Richard Carlson, and Fred MacMurray.
The book claims that author and creator Erle Stanley Gardner assumed CBS would choose MacMurray as the man for the job. "Apparently Fred MacMurray is the person who will probably be selected" as Perry Mason, Gardner wrote in a memo.
However, after some convincing, Raymond Burr was allowed the chance to audition as Perry Mason.
"In twenty minutes, you captured Perry Mason better than I did in twenty years," Gardner supposedly said to Burr after the audition.
The rest is courtroom conjecture!
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