Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial. Typically, Mason was able to establish his client's innocence by implicating another character, who then confessed. Gardner, who was one of the best-selling authors of all time, had "135 million copies of his books in print in America alone in the year of his death" in 1969. The character of Perry Mason was portrayed each weekday on a long-running radio series, followed by well-known depictions on film and television, including "television's most successful and longest-running lawyer series" from 1957 to 1966 starring Raymond Burr; another series in 1973–1974, starring Monte Markham and Brett Somers; and 30 made-for-TV movies filmed from 1985 to 1993.

The name "Perry Mason" dates to creator Gardner's childhood. As a child, Gardner was a reader of the magazine Youth's Companion. The magazine (best known for producing the original Pledge of Allegiance in 1891) was published in Boston, Massachusetts, by the Perry Mason Company (renamed "Perry Mason & Co." after the founder died). When Gardner created his fictional attorney, he borrowed the name of the company which published his favorite childhood magazine. Gardner provided more information about Mason's character in the earlier novels; knowledge of his character is largely taken for granted in the later works, the television series and movies. In the first novel, Mason describes himself:

Michael Rennie (August 25, 1909 – June 10, 1971) was an English-born film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor "Klaatu" in the classic science fiction motion picture The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). However, he also acted in more than 50 other films beginning in 1936. During World War II, Rennie served in the British Royal Air Force. From 1959 onwards, Rennie also appeared in some American TV series, in between acting in movies.

Eric Alexander Rennie was born in Idle near Bradford, Yorkshire. He received his education at the Leys School, Cambridge. Rennie tried out a number of occupations, including periods as car salesman and as the manager of his uncle's rope factory; before deciding (at the time of his 26th birthday, in 1935) on a career as an actor. Retaining his surname but adopting the professional name Michael Rennie, the 6' 4" tall show business hopeful, with chiseled facial features, first appeared onscreen in an uncredited bit part in the 1936 premiere of Sir Alfred Hitchcock's film Secret Agent.

Patrice Wymore (born December 17, 1926) is an American television, film, and stage actress of the 1950s and 1960s.

Wymore was born in Miltonvale, Kansas, and at the age of six she began touring with her family, who were vaudeville performers. By the time she reached adulthood, she was pretty and had a good singing voice. She auditioned in New York City for a part in Up in Central Park, in which she performed in 1947. She then performed in the Broadway musical Hold It!, for which she won a Theatre World Award for "Promising Actress". Following her performance in All for Love in 1949, she was contacted by Warner Bros., and she moved to Hollywood.

Wymore's first film appearance was in the 1950 film Tea for Two, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. That same year she starred in Rocky Mountain opposite Hollywood legend Errol Flynn, with whom she would become romantically involved. The two married in October 1950. They moved to Jamaica, and had a daughter, Arnella Flynn, born in 1953. Their daughter would later become a fashion model in Europe. Wymore continued to act, appearing in several films over the next few years, to include I'll See You in My Dreams, her second film alongside Doris Day. She also guest starred as herself in the 1951 film Starlift, performing the song "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)." In 1953, she appeared alongside Virginia Mayo in She's Back on Broadway, and that same year she starred opposite Randolph Scott in The Man Behind the Gun. In 1955 she appeared with her husband Errol Flynn and Anna Neagle in the film version of King's Rhapsody. Flynn was already in a physical and mental decline by the time they had married.

Raymond William Stacey Burr (May 21, 1917 – September 12, 1993) was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain. He won two Emmy Awards in 1959 and 1961 for the role of Perry Mason, which he played for nine seasons between 1957 and 1966. His second hit series, Ironside, earned him six Emmy nominations, and two Golden Globe nominations. He is also widely known for his role as Steve Martin in both Godzilla, King of the Monsters! and Godzilla 1985.

In addition to acting, Burr owned an orchid business and had begun to grow a vineyard. He was a collector of wines and art, and was very fond of cooking.

After his death from cancer in 1993, Burr's personal life came into question as details of his known biography appeared to be unverifiable.

In 1996, Raymond Burr was ranked #44 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.

Burr was born Raymond William Stacey Burr in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, to William Johnston Burr (1889–1985), an Irish hardware salesman, and his wife Minerva (née Smith, 1892–1974), a concert pianist and music teacher, who was of English and Scottish descent. After his parents divorced, Burr moved to Vallejo, California with his mother and younger siblings, Geraldine and James Edmond. He attended a military academy for a while and graduated from Berkeley High School.

Angela Brigid Lansbury, CBE (born 16 October 1925) is an English-born US-naturalized actress and singer in theatre, television, and motion pictures. Her career has spanned eight decades and earned an unsurpassed number of performance Tony Awards (tied with Julie Harris), with five wins. Her first film appearance was in the film Gaslight (1944) as a conniving maid, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. Among her other films are The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Anastasia (1997).

She expanded her repertoire to Broadway musicals and television in the 1950s and was particularly successful in Broadway productions of Gypsy, Mame and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Lansbury is perhaps best known to modern audiences for her twelve-year run starring as writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher on the American television series Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996). Her recent roles include Lady Adelaide Stitch in the film Nanny McPhee (2005), Leona Mullen in the 2007 Broadway play Deuce, Madame Arcati in the 2009 Broadway revival of the play Blithe Spirit and Madame Armfeldt in the 2010 Broadway revival of the musical A Little Night Music.