Raymond Burr and everybody thought I was out of my mind," Burr told Tom Shales of "The Washington Post". "But it wasn't the large sum of money. It was the fact that, first of all, I kind of liked 'Godzilla,' and where do you get the opportunity to play yourself 30 years later? So I said yes to both of them." He agreed to do the Mason movie if Barbara Hale returned to reprise her role as Della Street. Hale agreed, and when "Perry Mason Returns" aired in December 1985, her character became the defendant. The rest of the principal cast had
Raymond Burr "Pat Novak for Hire" (1949), and in "Dragnet" (1949–50) he played Joe Friday's boss, Ed Backstrand, chief of detectives. Burr worked on other Los Angeles-based series including "Suspense", "Screen Directors Playhouse", "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar", "Family Theater", "Hallmark Playhouse" and "Hallmark Hall of Fame". He performed in five episodes of the experimental dramatic radio anthology series "CBS Radio Workshop", and had what is arguably his best radio role in "The Silent Witness" (1957), in which his is the only voice. In 1956 Burr was the star of CBS Radio's "Fort Laramie", an adult Western drama produced, written and directed by