Remembering Raymond Burr on 30th Anniversary of ‘Perry Mason’ Star’s Death

When Raymond Burr passed away at age 76 on September 12, 1993, he was in the midst of a career resurgence. The Emmy-winning Perry Mason star who ruled the courtroom with style and smarts from 1957 to 1966, was once again playing novelist Erle Stanley Gardner’s brilliant, benevolent defense attorney in a series of TV movies with original costar Barbara Hale. He’d even reunited with the gang from his 1967-75 police drama Ironside for a telefilm that year.

Thirty years after the charismatic actor’s death from cancer, and more than 65 years after the show’s premiere, Perry Mason remains a fixture on nostalgia channels like MeTV and FETV, and streaming services such as Paramount+ and Freevee. Streamer Pluto TV even hosts a channel that plays the series round the clock.