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#65: The Case of the
Dangerous Dowager
Original Airdate: 05/09/59

Summary Edit

From The Perry Mason TV Show Book
Only the rich could have the problems that trouble the Benson family. Daddy is dead, and Matilda Benson rules her children with an iron fist and the promises in her will. Imagine the shock Matilda suffers when her little brood gets involved in a potential gambling scandal and later the unspeakable--murder!

Matilda hires Perry and he finds this a tough case. Watch for Ellen Corby (Granma on "The Waltons") as a gambler.

Credits Edit

Directed by Buzz Kulik
Teleplay by Milton Krims
Based on the novel by Erle Stanley Gardner

Cast

Robert Strauss as Danny Barker
Patricia Cutts as Sylvia Oxman
Kathryn Givney as Matilda Benson
Barry Atwater as Robert Benson
Michael Dante as Arthur Manning
Gene Blakely as Frank Oxman
Leo Gordon as Charles Duncan
Ellen Corby as Old Lady
King Calder as Dr. Ralph Caldwell
Frederic Worlock as Judge
Joey Faye as Walter Cobb
George E. Stone as Court Clerk
Perry Cook as Old Man
Barry Brooks as Policeman
Shirley Monticue as Maid

Trivia Edit

CARS: 1959 Ford Sunliner convertible, medium & white color, top down, 1958 Ford Thunderbird convertible, black, white top up (Drake), 1959 Ford Skyliner retractable, black, top down (Mason), Cameo: 1959 Plymouth 4dr hardtop, medium color & white top. From The Cars by Greg Cockerill.

Anomaly: Michael Dante is listed as Arthur Manning but is called Bill Manning by a witness on the stand. At other times, he is called Manning or Mr. Manning. Confirmed by rpdmhunt, 12/21/07.

+Robert Strauss makes his first of two appearances on Perry Mason. He would also appear in the 1965 episode #227, TCOT Thermal Thief. Robert Strauss was nominated for an Academy Award in 1953 for his role as Stanislas Kasava in Stalag 17. He would lose out to Frank Sinatra playing Maggio in From Here to Eternity. Submitted by PaulDrake 33.

Comments Edit

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