50 free Perry Mason trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Perry Mason won almost every case he ever tried, which Raymond Burr once explained by telling a fan she only saw the cases he tried on Saturday. The character began in Erle Stanley Gardner's 1933 novel The Case of the Velvet Claws, spent twelve years on radio, nine seasons on CBS, thirty TV movies on NBC and two seasons as an HBO origin story. This trivia about Perry Mason covers the books, the cast, the theme music, the famous lost cases and the people behind the camera. Every answer is sourced and explained.
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Q 01Besides being an author, what was the creator of Perry Mason by profession?
A lawyer
He defended poor Chinese and Mexican immigrants early in his career and stayed in practice until his first Mason novel sold in 1933.
Q 02How many Perry Mason novels did Gardner write?
82
Add four short stories. The series ranks third among the top ten best-selling book series of all time.
Q 03Which real Los Angeles defence attorney inspired the character of Perry Mason?
Earl Rogers
Gardner took the name Perry Mason from the Perry Mason Company, publisher of a magazine he read as a child.
Q 04Gardner borrowed the name Perry Mason from the publisher of which magazine he read as a boy?
Youth's Companion
The first novel appeared in 1933 and had Mason describe himself as a specialist in getting people out of trouble.
Q 05What was the title of the first Perry Mason novel, published in 1933?
The Case of the Velvet Claws
Much of it is set at the Pierpont Inn near Gardner's old law office in Ventura, California.
Q 06In The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece, what is Perry Mason's astrological sign?
Leo
That is one of the few personal details Gardner ever gave. Mason's family, education and background are never depicted.
Q 07In which 1935 novel does Mason manufacture false evidence in the form of glass eyes?
The Case of the Counterfeit Eye
The early book Mason was not above questionable tactics; the ethical image most people hold comes from the television series.
Q 08Gardner passed the California bar in which year, after teaching himself law?
1911
He had been suspended from Valparaiso University's law school after about a month when boxing proved too distracting.
Q 09What yearly word quota did Gardner set himself while writing for pulp magazines?
1,200,000 words
He typed with two fingers at first and later dictated to a team of secretaries. He was the best-selling American author of the century when he died.
Q 10Gardner founded which 1940s organisation to help people imprisoned unfairly?
The Court of Last Resort
It grew from his early years defending poor Chinese and Mexican immigrants and is seen as a forerunner of today's wrongful-conviction groups.
Q 11Under which pseudonym did Gardner publish many of his non-Mason novels?
A. A. Fair
He used a dozen other pen names too, and once signed a story as his own character Della Street.
Q 12Gardner moved in 1937 to which Southern California town, where he lived out his life?
Temecula
His widow, whom he married after his first wife's death in 1968, lived to 100 and died in San Diego in 2002.
Q 13How many Perry Mason films did Warner Bros. release in the 1930s?
Six
Warren William played Mason in the first four, starting with The Case of the Howling Dog in 1934.
Q 21Which actor played detective Paul Drake in the CBS series?
William Hopper
He auditioned for both the Mason and Drake roles, and said Gardner's later books began writing Drake the way he played him.
Q 22TV's Paul Drake was the only child of which famous Hollywood gossip columnist?
Hedda Hopper
His father was the actor and producer DeWolf Hopper. Hopper said Gardner's later books began writing Drake the way he played him.
Q 23Which actor played the perpetually losing district attorney in the CBS series?
William Talman
He was briefly suspended for violating CBS's morals clause and reinstated after a viewer letter-writing campaign backed by Burr and Patrick.
Q 14In the 1936 film of the first novel, what does Mason do that never happens in the books?
Marries Della Street
He has to cut the honeymoon short to defend a woman accused of murder. It was Warren William's fourth and final turn in the role.
Q 15The Perry Mason radio serial ran on CBS Radio between which years?
1943 to 1955
The 15-minute weekday show leaned toward action and soap opera, with Mason sometimes exchanging gunfire with criminals.
Q 16The radio serial became which long-running TV soap after Gardner withheld his name?
The Edge of Night
Gardner disliked the lack of creative control over the proposed daytime version, forcing the name change. It ran another 30 years.
Q 17The CBS Perry Mason series starring Raymond Burr premiered in which year?
1957
It ran until 22 May 1966 and was one of Hollywood's first weekly one-hour series filmed for television.
Q 18Raymond Burr originally read for which role before landing the part of Perry Mason?
Hamilton Burger
He told the producer that if they did not like him as Mason he would happily play the district attorney instead.
Q 19Executive producer Gail Patrick admired Burr's courtroom turn in which 1951 film?
A Place in the Sun
Patrick was a former actress who had studied law; her husband Cornwell Jackson was Gardner's literary agent.
Q 20Who played Della Street opposite Raymond Burr?
Barbara Hale
She won a 1959 Emmy for the role and returned for all 30 TV movies from 1985 to 1995.
Q 24Lieutenant Arthur Tragg of homicide was played by which veteran actor?
Ray Collins
Illness reduced his appearances from season four on, and Wesley Lau's Lieutenant Anderson gradually took over police duties.
Q 25In the cast list of his 1935 novel, Gardner describes the district attorney as honest but what?
Stubborn
Critics have called him possibly the most incompetent lawyer in history, though his record against anyone other than Mason is unknown.
Q 26What is the title of Fred Steiner's famous Perry Mason theme?
Park Avenue Beat
Steiner wanted to capture both Mason's sophistication and his toughness. The Blues Brothers covered it on their 1980 album Made in America.
Q 27Which band covered the Perry Mason theme on their 1980 album Made in America?
The Blues Brothers
The cover later turned up in the 1998 film Blues Brothers 2000 and on its soundtrack album.
Q 28Which of these is one of only three cases Mason is known to have lost on the CBS series?
The Case of the Terrified Typist
The others were The Case of the Witless Witness and The Case of the Deadly Verdict. He also loses a civil case while being framed in The Case of the Dead Ringer.
Q 29Asked by a fan why Mason won every case, what did Burr reply she only saw?
The cases he tried on Saturday
The show aired Saturday nights for its first five seasons, outdrawing the early seasons of Bonanza.
Q 30Which was the only Perry Mason episode filmed in colour?
The Case of the Twice-Told Twist
CBS president William Paley commissioned it to see how the show would look in colour if renewed for a tenth season. It was not.