The BEST episodes of Perry Mason season 3
Every episode of Perry Mason season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Perry Mason season 3!
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 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.
#2 - 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.
#3 - 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.
#4 - 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.
#5 - 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?
#6 - The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/30/1960
DA Hamilton Burger asks Perry to defend an old friend who once saved his life in a boating accident ten years before. The old friend of Burger's is now facing a murder charge.
#7 - The Case of the Frantic Flyer
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/9/1960
A double cross, a double murder, a plane crash, missing money, and yet another innocent widow charged with crimes she didn't commit are the elements of this case.
#8 - The Case of Paul Drake's Dilemma
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/14/1959
Donna Kress, a singer, is preparing a demo for a recording contract. She has been carrying on a long term affair with a married man, Frank Thatcher. That night Frank Thatcher is involved in a hit-and-run accident but does not report the incident. He is the son-in-law of Henry W. Dameron, a very wealthy businessman. To avoid publicity, Henry Dameron instructs Frank Thatcher to pay off the dead man's family anonymously. Frank uses Paul Drake to take care of the details. After Paul Drake speaks to the widow he uncovers the fact of the hit-and-run accident which Frank did not reveal. Later he confronts Frank Thatcher, a fistfight ensues, and Paul Drake is knocked unconscious. Later Frank Thatcher is found dead in the same apartment with Paul Drake after he wakes up. Paul Drake is accused of the murder when his gun is found to be the murder weapon.
#9 - The Case of the Singing Skirt
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/12/1960
The Big Barn is a legal gambling casino run by George Anclitis. Things are going well at the Big Barn until George's second banana, Slim Marcus, botches a crooked card game and is exposed for cheating. Slim's girlfriend, Vivan Ennis, is then killed and George plants a gun and marijuana on Betty Roberts, one of the girls who works at the club. Betty knows quite a bit about the shady activities going on at The Big Barn so George decides to feed her to the wolves in order to take the heat off himself. It's then up to Perry to try and extricate Betty from her predicament.
#10 - The Case of the Garrulous Gambler
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/17/1959
Larry Benton is a hard luck guy. He gets in an argument in a poker game and knocks Mike Granger out cold. Then his "friends" inform him that Granger is dead. Unknown to Larry, the entire scenario is a scam to shake him down for money. Larry forges his brother's check for $5,000.00 but ring leader Johnny Clay tries to bleed him for an additional twenty grand. Johnny's greed proves to be his undoing as he ends up dead himself. Steve Benton tries to cover up Larry's involvement and ends up being charged with Clay's murder. Perry then tries to track down Mike Granger, the man Larry supposedly killed, in order to get to the bottom ot things. Writer: Ge
#11 - The Case of the Violent Village
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/2/1960
Perry goes on a fishing trip in a small Sierra Nevada town with his old friend, Sheriff Gene Norris but as usual manages to get sidetracked into another murder case when Phil Beecher returns from jail. It seems as though Phil did time for negligent homicide for the car accident which killed the daughter of Sheriff Norris. Charlotte Norris, sister of the decedant, wants revenge and frames Phil for a robbery but is herself killed. Can Perry prevent things from getting out of hand in the village?
#12 - The Case of the Bartered Bikini
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/5/1959
Wally Dunbar seeks Perry's help in securing ownership of his new summer line of swimwear but the sketches are stolen and worse yet, chief designer Rick Stassi is murdered. Wally's girlfriend, Kitty Wynne, who was being blackmailed by Stassi goes to trial for his murder.
#13 - The Case of the Madcap Modiste
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/30/1960
After one of the biggest names in fashion is poisoned after embarassing her husband on TV, the husband is not rightly the prime suspect.
#14 - The Case of the Bashful Burro
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/26/1960
Perry arrives in the gold mining town of Placer City looking for an old prospector to subpoena for testimony. He then get involved in a murder case when one of the participants in a barroom fight is found killed and the other is accused of the crime.
#15 - The Case of the Wary Wildcatter
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/20/1960
Charles Houston cleverly get away with killing his wife by making it look like she died in a car accident. Then a wildlife photographer shows up with the murder on film and Charles discovers that his sister-in-law has squandered all the profits from his oil well. The situation then goes from awful to good grief when the sister-in-law is found locked in a room with Houston's corpse.
#16 - The Case of the Watery Witness
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/10/1959
Lorna Thomas is a has-been actress who once gave up her baby fof adoption and lived to regret it. George Clark discovers that his wife might be Lorna's long-lost daughter and begins to see dollar signs. The Clarks go to Perry for advice but learn that since Lorna gave up her daughter for adoption she cannot inherit any of her mother's estate. George is devastated over the loss of potential income but he's also under arrest when Lorna is found murdered.
#17 - The Case of the Nimble Nephew
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/23/1960
Mason is sought out by land tycoon Adam Thompson, who suspects one of his nephews of rifling the house safe. The twist? The land tycoon's next in command is found dead, after it's found out that he was the one stealing the secrets.
#18 - The Case of the Gallant Grafter
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/6/1960
Corporate intrigue is the backdrop of this episode when embezzling accountant Robert Doniger is murdered and Edward Nelson is charged with his murder.
#19 - The Case of the Wayward Wife
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/23/1960
Ben Sutton is listed as the author of a best-selling book describing his experiences in a Korean POW camp. When the real author is released from an Army hospital, Sutton is slain before he can tell the truth and his widow is arrested for the murder.
#20 - The Case of the Ominous Outcast
Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/21/1960
When a notorious bank robber's son returns to his hometown it seems as though everyone is interested in missing loot supposedly hidden by the man's father. This leads to murder. Perry comes to the rescue once again.
#21 - The Case of the Irate Inventor
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 5/28/1960
James Frazer wants a divorce and his cheating wife refuses to give him one. She's also stealing the plans to his invention in order to bait her engineer lover into staying around. Frazer leaves town for three months in order to cool down but on the night of his return he finds his wife murdered in his office and he has the only key to a unique burglar proof lock that he invented.
#22 - The Case of the Spurious Sister
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/3/1959
Bruce Chapman returns home early from a business trip to find that his wife, Marie, wants a divorce. Chapman is shocked at this turn of events because just before he left on his trip he thought he had found the strangled body of Marie in his office. But if Marie is still alive, who was the dead woman in the office?
#23 - The Case of the Lucky Legs
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/19/1959
Marjorie Cluny wins a contest for best looking legs sponsored by Frank Patton of Stellar Productions. Her prize is a trip to Hollywood and a role in Patton's next picture. Unfortunately, there was fine print in Marjorie's contract and her Hollywood career lasts only two days. Patton is then found stabbed to death with a woodcarving instrument . Marjorie disappears and becomes the leading suspect.
#24 - The Case of the Crying Cherub
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/9/1960
A valuable Matisse painting is stolen from a museum. When the thief is found murdered museum employee June Sinclair and her boyfriend David Lambert are charged with the crime.
#25 - The Case of the Artful Dodger
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/12/1959
Allen Sheridan has more enemies than you can shake a stick at, even though he's due to inherit the healthy sum of $162,000.00. When Allen turns up dead his killer could be anyone but his aunt Sarette becomes the prime suspect.