Fantasy Black Casts of Perry Mason in the 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s-Present Day.

Over the past few years I’ve become a super fan of the iconic tv series Perry Mason, the iconic courtroom\detective mystery series that reigned on tv for nine super successful seasons from 1957–1966 and returned in series of made for tv reunion movies from 1985–1995, and as a giant fan of its iconic cast: Raymond Burr as Perry Mason, Barbara Hale as Della Street, William Hopper as Paul Drake, William Talman as Hamilton Burger and Ray Collins as Lt. Arthur Tragg:

Burr center, Hale left of Burr, above Hale is Collins, on Burr’s right is Hopper and above Hopper is Talman

I thought it would be fun to fantasize what cast members of Perry Mason would look like had it been casted with all black actors in the 80’s, 90’s and all through the 2000’s up to present day. Now, no debate if the original series were cast with a black cast there’s only one actor in mind that could come close to the iconic Raymond Burr as the lawyer\sleuth:

Now let’s get on with the fun stuff shall we? Here’s my dream black casts for a fantasy Perry Mason in different eras with black actors.

Perry Masons:

1980’s:

Howard Rollins, Jr.:

Ron Glass:

Clifton Davis:

Della Streets:

Phylicia Rashad:

Jo Marie Payton:

Janet Hubert Whitten:

Paul Drakes:

Richard Lawson:

Avery Brooks:

Hamilton Burgers:

Ron Glass:

Yaphet Kotto:

Moses Gunn:

Lt. Traggs:

Ozzie Davis:

Joe Seneca:

1990's:

Perry Masons:

Andre Braugher:

Michael Boatman:

TC Carson:

Steven Williams:

James Avery

Della Streets:

Sheryl Lee Ralph:

Kim Fields:

Angela Basset:

Halle Berry:

Paul Drakes:

Malik Yoba:

Clarence Gilyard Jr.:

John Marshall Jones:

Hamilton Burgers:

Tim Reid:

Glynn Turman:

Dorian Harewood:

Lt. Traggs:

Sherman Hemsley:

John Amos:

Hal Williams:

Garret Morris:

Paul Winfield:

2000’s to Present Day:

Perry Masons:

Chadwick Boseman (Any time between 2012–2019):

Unfortunately we lost Chadwick near the end of 2020. I truly believe if anyone could be close to capturing the spirit of Raymond Burr’s Perry Mason it’d be this guy. Still a horrible loss to the world.

Terrence Howard:

Dorien Wilson:

Cress Williams:

Morris Chestnut:

Della Streets:

Lark Voorhies:

Elise Neal:

Kellita Smith:

Paul Drakes:

Lance Gross:

Coby Bell:

Morris Chestnut:

Darius McCrarey:

David Ramsey:

Aldis Hodge:

Russell Hornsby:

Hamilton Burgers:

Reggie Hayes:

Duane Martin:

Lt. Traggs:

Danny Glover:

Ernie Hudson:

This was so much fun to fantasize about. Each of these wonderful actors I think are as close to the level of talent and the essence of the original actors as we could ever get. Perry Mason was and is a remarkable series and I hope that if you haven’t seen it this little fun tribute will get you interested in checking it out. It airs on METV and currently streams on CBS Access.

’Til next time, folks!