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 W. Jones Supreme Court September 6, 1920, to fill a vacancy; elected to the same office April 4, 1922, and served until his retirement on January 1, 1926; resumed the practice of law; died, in a hospital, Madison, Wisconsin on January 7, 1935; interment in Forest Hill Cemetery. One of the Kronshage dormitories at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is named after him, as well as a Madison city park on the Yahara River. Burr W. Jones Burr W. Jones (March 9, 1846 – January 7, 1935) was an American politician, jurist, and lawyer. Born in the Town of Union, Rock County, Wisconsin,