Canadian History for Kids: Raymond Burr

Perry Mason… a Canuck? Well, sort of.

Raymond Burr, who played the title role, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The long running CBS television series ended September 4th, 1966. This Canadian History for Kids, Sketches of Canada, looks at the career of Raymond Burr.

For nine seasons the famous attorney solved murder cases in the courtroom. Assisting him in solving those complex puzzles was his personal investigator, Paul Drake and his secretary Della Street. Perry Mason magically to put together the facts at the very last minute to solve those puzzling cases.

Perry Mason is a fictional character, an attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client’s murder trial.

This Canadian History for Kids article continues in 1956 when Burr auditioned for the role of District Attorney Hamilton Burger in Perry Mason. The producers of the show allowed Burr to try for the title role and when Gardner, who was present at the audition, saw him he declared, “He is Perry Mason.”

Burr won the role. The series ran from 1957 to 1966, and Burr won Emmy Awards in 1959 and 1961 for his performance as Perry Mason. The series has been re-run in syndication ever since. Though Burr’s character is often said never to have lost a case, he did lose two murder cases in early episodes of the series, once when his client misled him and another time when his client was later cleared.

There were 26 made-for-TV Perry Mason movies starring Burr filmed from 1985 to Burr’s death in 1993.

His second hit series, Ironside, earned him six Emmy nominations, and two Golden Globe nominations. He is also widely known for his role in both Godzilla, King of the Monsters! and Godzilla 1985.

Raymond Burr died 1993. In 1996, Raymond Burr was ranked #44 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

And that’s this week Canadian History for Kids, Sketches of our Canada.
 

Other Canadian History for Kids Sketches of Canada