Raymond Burr Burr went on a crash diet. When he returned, he tested as Perry Mason and won the role. While Burr's test was running, Gardner reportedly stood up, pointed at the screen and said, "That's Perry Mason." William Hopper also auditioned as Mason, but was cast instead as private detective Paul Drake. Also starring were Barbara Hale as Della Street, Mason's secretary; William Talman as Hamilton Burger, the district attorney who loses nearly every case to Mason; and Ray Collins as homicide detective Lieutenant Arthur Tragg. The series ran from 1957-66. Burr received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations and won the
Burr Steers Burr Steers Burr Gore Steers (born October 8, 1965) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. His films include "Igby Goes Down" (2002) and "17 Again" (2009). He is also a nephew of writer Gore Vidal. Steers was born in Washington, D.C. His father, Newton Ivan Steers, Jr. (1917–1993), was a Republican congressman from Maryland. Through his mother, Nina Gore Auchincloss (born 1937), he is a grandson of stockbroker and lawyer Hugh D. Auchincloss, a cousin of Louis Auchincloss. Nina is also the stepsister Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and younger half-sister of the writer Gore Vidal. Steers is a relative of