The BEST episodes of Perry Mason
Every episode of Perry Mason ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Perry Mason!
There are few actors so closely tied to a persona than Raymond Burr as Perry Mason. This long-running series was built upon Erle Stanley Gardner´s many novels about a brilliant defense lawyer and his staff, that solved many a crime with surprise witnesses and stern cross-examinations.It was the first mystery series to feature chalk or tape outlines to mark the spots where bodies were found. Filmed almost exclusively in the Los Angeles area, Raymond Burr had Gardner's seal of approval in the role. The cases were usually won by way of pivotal confessions of witnesses, solicited by Perry Mason (Burr's) surgeon-like examination or with last-minute, key evidence brought into the courtroom by private investigator, Paul Drake (William Hopper). Della Street (Barbara Hale), Perry´s faithful secretary, was always at Perry's side in the courtroom where hapless Hamilton Burger (William Tallman) was the Los Angeles District Attorney who never seemed to win. As to the myth that Perry Mason never lost, there were 2 episodes where it did occur... but you'll have to watch to find out.The show was revived in 1973-74, with other actors in the familiar roles (Monte Markham as Mason), and then again with the some of the original cast, in a string of feature length TV films from 1985 until Raymond Burr´s death in 1993.
#1 - The Case of the Screaming Woman
Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/26/1958
Gossip columnist Mary K. Davis is found murdered and it seems there is no shortage of suspects. There was her politician-husband to whom she refused to grant a divorce. There was her timid secretary whom she bullied. There was the secretary's boyfriend who had some secrets in his past. There was the doctor running an illegal baby-selling scheme whom Mary threatened to expose if he didn't give her a child. Leona Walsh, the doctor's nurse, ends up being charged with the crime and this time Perry has to tamper with some evidence in order to clear his client.
#2 - The Case of the Lucky Loser
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/27/1958
Perry has all kinds of troubles in this one when a murder brings him into the tangled financial and personal affairs of the wealthy Balfour family.
#3 - The Case of the Crooked Candle
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/30/1957
While Martha Bradford is waiting for her appointment at a beauty parlour, she meets Rita Bradford who apparently is also married to Joe Bradford and lives at the same address. Joe Bradford is preparing for a business meeting in San Diego. He makes plans to meet his wife Martha but fails to show up. Joe Bradford is found dead on his boat the next morning and Martha Bradford is accused of his murder when her fingerprints are found on a candle located on the boat.
#4 - The Case of the Blushing Pearls
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/24/1959
Mitsuo Kamuri has been seeing a great deal of Grover Nichols, son of wealthy businessman Hudson Nichols. Nichols doesn't approve of his son's relationship and when Mitsuo is "caught" with a string of valuable pearls belonging to Mrs. Nichols he agrees to drop all charges provided she stops seeing his son. Things then get even more complicated when Mitsuo's uncle, who had originally strung the pearls. is found murdered. The death has been made to look like hara-kiri but the police are not fooled.
#5 - The Case of the Mythical Monkeys
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/27/1960
Author Mauvis Meade sends her secretary, Gladys Doyle, out to a mountain cabin to pick up a package. Gladys gets lost and her car gets stuck in the mud. She then walks to a cabin looking for help and encounters a mysterious man who appears to know her. While Gladys freshens up, the man leaves and Gladys discovers a dead body.
#6 - The Case of the Rolling Bones
Season 1 - Episode 39 - Aired 6/28/1958
When Daniel Reed (Edgar Stehli) finds himself being blackmailed by an old business partner from his time in Alaska, Perry must first save him from the insane asylum and then the gas chamber. Convinced that Reed has lost his mind when he begins writing $20,000.00 checks to strangers, his heartless niece and nephew have the old man forcibly placed in an insane asylum. Perry is enlisted by Reed’s girlfriend Millie Foster (Kitty Kelly) to get him out of the asylum and he is no sooner granted his freedom than his blackmailer turns up dead and Reed stands accused of his murder.
#7 - The Case of the Fiery Fingers
Season 1 - Episode 31 - Aired 5/3/1958
When wealthy Louise Gordon is poisoned to death her nurse is charged with the crime. Perry does some digging and discovers that the first wife of the victim's husband also died of poisoning. Is the husband really the culprit or could it be someone else?
#8 - The Case of the Golden Fraud
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/21/1959
Richard Vanaman is up for a promotion at his investment firm but is sabotaged and framed for murder.
#9 - The Case of the Hesitant Hostess
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/5/1958
When Albert Sanders is charged with the murder of Kim Lane, Perry offers to defend him free of charge because he knows Sanders is still devastated over the accidental death of his wife and children eight years before. The solution to the case hinges on a heroin smuggling ring operating out of a dance hall. Writer: Al C. W
#11 - The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom
Season 2 - Episode 29 - Aired 6/13/1959
Perry returns to his office late one night and finds an attractive woman climbing into his balcony window. She claims to be Virginia Colfax, the secretary of Ed Garvin who has an office next door to Perry's. Ms. Colfax says that she climbed into Perry's office in order to escape from Garvin's hot tempered wife but Perry later learns that Garvin is married to two women. Garvin and second wife Lorrie are sent to Mexico by Perry until he can clear up the matter but when Garvin's first wife, Ethel, is murdered there's an even bigger mess on the scene. And just who in the world is Virginia Colfax, the woman climbing in the window?
#12 - The Case of the Lame Canary
Season 2 - Episode 30 - Aired 6/27/1959
Ruth Prescott wants to divorce Walter Prescott so that she can be with her true love, Jimmy MacLaine. After a brush with death, Ruth becomes convinced that Walter is trying to kill her rather than give her the divorce. Walter then turns up dead and the police are convinced that Ruth shot him but Perry, as usual, doesn't think so. A lame canary and unusual bruises on the victim hold the keys to the puzzle.
#13 - The Case of the Calendar Girl
Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/18/1959
A building contractor is charged with the murder of a wealthy political Mr.fix-it.
#14 - The Case of the Startled Stallion
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/31/1959
Wealthy rancher John Brant forecloses on Jo Ann Blanchard's mortgage and takes possession of her prized stallion. Jo Ann goes to Perry for help in getting the horse back but soon needs Perry's aid in getting her off a murder charge she is arrested for killing Brant.
#16 - The Case of the Flighty Father
Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired 6/11/1960
18 year-old Trudy's mother has died leaving her $10 million and suddenly men claiming to be her long-lost father are coming into town. The only one who could identify the real father, a blind uncle, is killed, but by who?
#17 - The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/14/1957
Restrauteur Morey Allen, a friend of Perry and Della's, has a problem: his waitress, Dixie Dayton, was struck by a car while fleeing the restaurant after spotting a man stalking her. The only item she left behind was a moth-eaten mink. When the stalker is found murdered, Morey and Dixie are both strong suspects and eventually get arrested for the murder. The case also ties in with the murder of a young policeman several months before.
#18 - The Case of the Haunted Husband
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/25/1958
Claire Olger is hitchhiking because her purse was stolen at the bus station and is picked up by Michael Greeley. He loses control of the car and has an accident due to his being intoxicated. Arriving at the scene of the accident, the police find Claire in the driver's seat. The district attorney's office questions her but do not believe her story about another driver. Her friend, Doris Stephanak, asks Perry Mason to help. When Perry is unable to contact Claire at her hotel, he goes there and finds Michael Greeley dead in her room. The police accuse Claire Olger of murder, realizing Michael Greeley fits the description of the man she claimed was driving the car and believe she had motive and opportunity.
#19 - The Case of the Runaway Corpse
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/23/1957
Ed Davenport learns that a sandwich he requested to be tested by a lab contains arsenic and blames his wife Myrna. When he confronts her about his suspicions she denies it. He leaves for a business trip and falls ill. Dr. Renault is called to treat him at a motel where Ed Davenport later dies. Before he dies he claims his wife poisoned some candy. After locking the motel room the doctor calls the police. The police arrive to find the corpse missing. The police test the candy and indeed find arsenic. Subsequently Ed Davenport's body is found in a shallow grave. Myrna Davenport is accused of the murder.
#20 - The Case of the Witless Witness
Season 6 - Episode 28 - Aired 5/16/1963
A judge is accused of murdering a government witness who planned to expose him as a crook. The question though, is is he a crook.
#21 - The Case of the Desperate Daughter
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 3/22/1958
Stefan Riker has come from Germany seeking the woman posing as Lisa Bannister and she believes he can cause her to be deported back to Germany. Attempting to help her stepmother, Doris Bannister pretends to be romantically interested in Stefan Riker. During the next few months Stefan Riker receives money and gifts from Doris and seems satisfied. However one night he is murdered and Doris Bannister is accused of murder because her fingerprints are found on a ladder outside of Riker's apartment.
#22 - The Case of the Weary Watchdog
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/29/1962
This is the episode where Della asks Perry how far he would go for a friend and then asks for $25,000. Della needs the money for her friend Janet Brent, who is being blackmailed. Edward Franklin, an employee of Janet's husband, has staged compromising photos of her in a motel. At a party, Janet confronts Franklin and hits him with a small statue of a ""weary watchdog."" The police arrest Della when they find her driving Janet's car from the scene of the argument. Franklin is dead, struck three times on the head with the statue. Janet claims she only hit him once and Perry believes her. Perry takes the case knowing that if he loses, Della will go to prison as an accessory. There is a surprise in the plot, when a Red Chinese slave market is uncovered.
#23 - The Case of the Howling Dog
Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/11/1959
Evelyn Forbes escapes from a mental institution only to be charged with murder. The key to the case is a dog that continues to howl no matter what.
#24 - The Case of the Fugitive Nurse
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/15/1958
Janet Norris is charged with poisoning her doctor husband just before he flew to his death in his private plane. Further investigation reveals that Dr. Norris did not die in the plane crash and that he is in Mexico with his nurse mistress. The man killed in the plane was actually one Dave Kirby. This means that Janet still has to stand trial for murder.
#25 - The Case of the Daring Decoy
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 3/29/1958
Daniel Conway is involved in a vicious proxy war with Warner Griffith for control of an oil company. Conway's secretary, Rose Calvert, is spying for Griffith. When Rose is found dead, Conway fears he's being framed for murder and approaches Perry at a bar association dinner and asks for his aid. Perry at first believes Griffin to be the guilty party but he has an ironclad alibi. Then another witness emerges who has a photographic memory and can identify people by their shoes.