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
Theodore Burr successes made him the most distinguished architect of bridges in the country. Today's modern bridges with their graceful arches can be traced back to Theodore Burr and his contemporaries. Between 1811 and 1818, Burr designed, then constructed or supervised, five crossings of the Susquehanna River. The first four were in Pennsylvania at Nescopeck Falls (Berwick), Columbia, Harrisburg, and Northumberland. The last was the Susquehanna River Bridge near Port Deposit, Maryland. Burr was awarded US Patent No. 2769 on April 4, 1817 for his arch and truss bridge design. In 1789, Burr married Asenath Cook in Hartford, Connecticut. On April 13,