All 6 Perry Mason Actors, Ranked

Published Nov 10, 2026, 4:30 PM EST Cher Thompson is a Senior Staff Writer at Screen Rant, where she covers everything from explosive reality TV moments to cast interviews about the twists and turns of scripted dramas. With a background in creative writing, marketing, and teaching, Cher knows how to spot both the storytelling genius and the guilty pleasures in pop culture. Her work blends wit with insight, making readers feel like they’re chatting with a friend who just happens to know way too much about TV. While there have always been fictional detectives, few have been as enduring as Perry Mason, with several iterations of the character making his way through most of the past century. Originally created by author Erle Stanley Gardener, the defense attorney became a fixture among pop culture through a wave of film and TV appearances, adapting Gardener's novels into different interpretations. Each adaptation saw Mason as an incredibly sharp legal mind who had great instincts in the courtroom, and is always doggedly determined to find the truth. While each Mason has a similar structure, the actors playing him have added different nuance to the character. From the earliest days of Hollywood to the modern streaming era, there have been different actors who have portrayed Perry Mason throughout his time in the spotlight. While some interpretations of the character have had massive impact, which has allowed viewers to indulge in and get to know the attorney, others have had the same lasting impressions on the public consciousness. With six different actors having notably taken on the role throughout its time on the air, Perry Mason has had an interesting and intense journey as a character. Each Mason is different, and should be celebrated for their contribution to the character's enduring legacy. 6 Donald Woods 1937 TMC As the earliest version of Perry Mason, Donald Woods took on the role in 1937's film The Case of the Stuttering Bishop. Based on Gardener's novel, the film was a Warner Brothers picture that was the final entry of six different Perry Mason films, the rest of which had featured different actors playing the leading role. Woods had even appeared in one of the previous pictures, playing a different character in 1935's The Case of the Curious Bride. Even so, Woods' time as Perry Mason wasn't one of the actors more memorable roles, unfortunately having been panned by critics and audiences. Despite the fact that Woods went on to continue acting and had a fairly active career throughout his time in the spotlight, his work as Mason didn't leave much of an impression on audiences. The Case of the Stuttering Bishop was the final Perry Mason movie in the series, which already put it at a lower rank than the rest, and Woods' performance didn't have the same level of personality as the previous actors. As a weak conclusion to the Warner Bros. saga of the character, unfortunately, Woods was left with the short end of the stick during his time in the role. 5 Monte Markham 1973-1974 Although Monte Markham's Perry Mason is one of the more recent iterations of the character, it wasn't long lasting enough to make a true impact on the franchise as a whole. Markham, who played Mason in the 1970s series The New Perry Mason, was able to embody a modernized version of the character for a whole new generation. The CBS revival, which aired 15 episodes over the course of late 1973 and early 1974, didn't gain traction in the way the series had hoped, which made it quite tough to see much of how Markham approached the already iconic character. The original Perry Mason TV series, which will be covered later in this list, saw a different actor approach the character and create a whole world around him that captivated audiences. With such a distinct Perry Mason coming from the original TV show, the updated version of the series in the 1970s saw Markham taking a fairly different approach. While Markham's version of Mason was more closely aligned with the source material from Gardener's novels, the public consciousness had more of a feel and overall affinity for the '50s version of the TV detective, which made him less appealing overall. 4 Ricardo Cortez 1936 Another version of Mason who made his way into the 1930s film series, Ricardo Cortez's version of Mason was a fairly celebrated one. Appearing in The Case of the Black Cat, Cortez took over for the original actor who played Mason during the fifth film in the series, which followed the detective through a complicated case that saw a family dispute over an inheritance turn ugly. Cortez's Mason was different from the original, which was somewhat tough for audiences to handle at the time, but overall left him space to grow with the character as the story moved through its narrative. Cortez's Mason was an approachable version of the character, which was vastly different from the original film version of the attorney. At first played as a cocky, somewhat unlikable version of the lawyer, Perry Mason shifted during The Case of the Black Cat, and Cortez's ability to make Mason more likable was a positive for the film. While Mason was still willing to bend the rules to find the truth, he did so in less of an intense way. Cortez made the character more of an interesting one to watch, which makes his lack of reappearance in the franchise all the more frustrating. 3 Warren William 1934-1936 The original Perry Mason in the Warner Bros. films, Warren William, is the strongest of those who played the character in the 1930s version of his story. William established Perry Mason as a character outside of the books, playing the attorney in the 1934 film The Case of the Howling Dog, the 1935 films The Case of the Curious Bride and The Case of the Lucky Legs, as well as the 1936 film The Case of the Velvet Claws. A sharp-witted and sophisticated attorney, William's version of Perry Mason was interested in his work in the courtroom, but also wanted to investigate his cases thoroughly. The interpretation of the character that William took saw a change in tone for the film series after the first picture, which heavily followed the way that Gardener had written the character in his novels. After the 1934 film, William shifted the way that Mason worked, bringing in an element of mischievous charm to the role that wasn't necessarily there in the earlier version. As William built the character up, however, audiences resonated with the new Mason, and the films continued to work with the tone that the actor set for the iconic character as they continued. 2 Matthew Rhys 2020-2024 As the most recent version of Perry Mason, Matthew Rhys' take on the character was one of the most interesting interpretations of all. The HBO series, Perry Mason, ran for just two seasons from 2020-2023, but it saw Rhys take on the iconic character and bend him into something entirely different on screen. Rhys' portrayal of Mason saw him as a much younger version of the character than the original TV series, which allowed for an exploration of his time coming up in the legal profession rather than the polished lawyer that had often come into the spotlight in adaptations before. Set in Depression-era Los Angeles, Maosn worked as a private investigator at the start of Rhys' version, and the show followed his gradual journey to becoming the lawyer that viewers associate with the character. Rhys was able to make Mason feel like a complicated person at his core, and exploring that general intensity prior to allowing the attorney persona develop around him was a great way to break the character open. The reinvention of Perry Mason for the modern era allowed for a different style of character to emerge, which was huge for the classic franchise as a whole. 1 Raymond Burr 1957-1966, 1985-1993 Raymond Burr's version of Perry Mason is both the most popular and the longest-running, with the actor having played the character for nearly a decade before returning for TV movies later in his life. Burr played the iconic attorney over the course of 271 episodes from 1957 to 1966 on the CBS series that put Perry Mason on the map. Bringing the character to life in a way that felt both amenable to the current times and classic in the way that pulpy detectives always do, Burr was able to allow Mason to be an intelligent, composed, and relentless character for viewers. Despite being a different style of Mason than Gardener originally intended for in his novels, Burr was able to develop a version of Mason that felt familiar, but unique in the way he played it overall. With a cool, calculating version of Mason that grew within himself over the course of decades, Burr's portrayal is the one that most would reach for when describing the character overall. His interpretation of who Perry Mason was became the one most closely associated with the character for years, and still remains the most popular version of the investigative attorney to this day. Release Date 2020 - 2023-00-00 Network HBO Showrunner Jack Amiel Cast Audrey Marie Anderson Agnes Holcomb Directors Tim Van Patten, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Marialy Rivas, Fernando Coimbra, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Jessica Lowrey Writers Mauricio Katz, Pedro Peirano, Steven Hanna, Sarah Kelly Kaplan, Erle Stanley Gardner, Jack Amiel, Michael Begler, Ron Fitzgerald, Rolin Jones Creator(s) Rolin Jones, Ron Fitzgerald