[JamesG]

Several of the episodes in Perry Mason's fourth season did without the services of costar William Talman (aka luckless prosecutor Hamilton Burger), who as a result of a wild and highly publicized party at his home was fired from the series by CBS.


Raymond Burr, who of course headed the cast as defense attorney Perry Mason, rallied his coworkers Barbara Hale, William Hopper and Ray Collins, demanded that Talman be reinstated, threatening to quit the show himself unless CBS reversed its decision. Ultimately of course, Talman was rehired, but not before such guest actors as Walter Burke and Paul Fix filled the gap by portraying various one-shot prosecutors.

Outside of these backstage intrigues, Season Four was distinguished by a wealth of familiar faces in the supporting-player category, beginning with a young Robert Redford in the season opener "The Case of the Treacherous Toupee" and including in later episodes such future Oscar winners as Louise Fletcher and James Coburn.

Also seen were quite a few TV-series stalwarts, including Sue Randall (Miss Landers on Leave It to Beaver), Connie Hines (Carol Post on Mister Ed), John Banner (Sgt. Schultz on Hogan's Heroes), Adam West (Batman himself) and Gavin McLeod (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mister Ed).


Despite a shaky start, the season ended on a high note, with Raymond Burr winning his second Emmy Award.

-Closed Captioned