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Raymond Burr was an unlikely choice to play Perry Mason, and toiled to prove everyone wrong
"It's been six days a week, 18 to 20 hours a day," Burr said. "I just don't have time to eat."
Perry Mason is a television classic, but at its inception, it was a risk.
You know how you feel about reboots? Well, remember, Perry Mason was a reboot. The legal crime drama was also something rather new for TV — and it was quite expensive. (One of the most expensive shows on TV at the time, with a budget in the six figures for episodes.) Remember, the medium of television was still fairly new, and seen as a far cry from the art of cinema. Well, Perry Mason aimed to change that. In fact, the network and trades considered Perry Mason to be a series of "movies."
CBS thought of Perry Mason as a "new hour-long 'movie quality' film," Hollywood columnist Erskine Johnson reported in early 1957, months before the premiere. It was a new model of "big, expensive hour-long TV movies based on the weekly series idea." Which is a roundabout way of saying "quality television."
So that was a risk. To up the stakes, the show cast an unlikely actor as the lead. Yes, Raymond Burr was seen as a wild choice. The industry had typecast him as a bad guy.
No More the Villain — He's On Our Side Now, a Detroit Free Press headline declared. The producers were reluctant to book him as Perry — they saw him as the adversary, Hamilton Burger.
Burr insisted on auditioning for Perry, though he did agree to test as Burger, too. The producers were still not convinced. Not that it mattered. One key person backed Burr: Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of the character. Gardner saw Burr in the role and simply said, "That's Perry Mason."
Burr had done his homework.
"I thought I'd read all your books but I keep finding more," Burr told Gardner, then asked, "How many have you written?"
"I lost count after the first 200," Garner said.
All those books gave fans a bias of what Perry Mason looked like, what he sounded like.
Burr was a workaholic and punished himself to make the show fantastic — and to make himself the best Perry Mason possible.
"There have been over 100 million Perry Mason mysteries sold in the United States alone," Burr noted. "That's a lot of people with preconceived notions about the man."
"It's been six days a week, 18 to 20 hours a day," Burr told Detroit Free Press.
Every article focused on his weight. "He Lost 100 Pounds to Take the Role," Detroit Free Free declared in large print. Those bygone 100 lbs. were mentioned in every article. "His six-foot-two frame adds poundage faster than a dowager on a bon-bon kick," columnist Hal Humphrey cattily wrote.
"I just don't have time to eat," Burr explained to the NEA in 1957.
He awoke at 2:30 a.m. to arrive at the studio at 3:30 a.m., when he would begin his makeup and script studies. If he was lucky, he might snag a cat nap before the cameras started rolling at 8 a.m.
"It's killed any other existence for me," Burr said, "and it may kill me." He hoped to keep it up for "three years" so that he could retire rich. "But, mister, I'll never do it again," he promised. Of course, the show ran for nine seasons. And Burr did everything but retire.
52 Comments
Perry, Della and Paul were preparing their next case...
The series you're thinking of is "Ironside" in which he was wheelchair bound from 1967-1965 on NBC.
all the characters are stellar
my #1 is Svengoolie (hands down)
Several things to remember:
- If you're my age ('50s kid), maybe you remember how low-definition TV sets were in the Fifties and Sixties; seeing the same black-and-white films on a digital flatscreen is the difference between night and day.
- Also, remember that these shows were not intended to be shown every day, but once a week, and over a period of years (if they were lucky enough to run a long time).
Thus, while Raymond Burr was slowly regaining his old weight, Ray Collins (in his seventies) and William Talman (who was ill with cancer) were losing theirs.
Compare early episodes in which Burr and Talman appear to be about the same size and build, to later ones where Burr seems to half again as large as Talman; a ten-year passage of time will do that to people.
And here I always thought that the difference between night and day was a title card and a gray lens filter!
First, they didn't "dolly" the cameras through the set "doorways," All the facades were breakaway, because it wasn't just about the camera shots, but the lighting. And what's fun to notice in any of these classic shows, is how the shadows fall. Once in awhile you'll see a very faint shadow off of what is supposed to be a window with an outdoor view. They also smudged all the shiny pots and points of reflection.
But I digress.
The expenses in most of these high quality series, went to guest stars. And Perry Mason had a flood of them! Just last night they had Walter Pidgeon in a stellar role. Others like Betty Davis and more. They were movie stars, and unless they just wanted to do Perry Mason, their compensation was at the top of the billing. Most series of those times filmed on their own outdoor lots, or nearby parks and county spaces. Even so, shooting on location had it's own expenses. More difficulties with lighting (equals labor expense) and making sure there was enough continuity going on established at those remote sites.
So ... if a series is "going" to save on expenses, a good way is through set design and standard clothing for recurring characters. Simplicity mimicking quality or luxury, was the name of the game.
Series like Columbo (for example) that actually shot all the episodes on location, really capture a feeling of authenticity, because they were real homes. Although the interior effects "may" have been substituted if the owners insisted.
