Della Street

Della Street, played by Barbara Hale, was Perry Mason's confidential secretary in the television series and made-for-TV movies.

Related Topics:
Barbara Hale - Perry Mason - Secretary - Television series - Made-for-TV movies

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In the very first Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws, written

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in the early days of the Great Depression it is revealed that Della Street came from a wealthy, or at least

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well-to-do, family that was wiped out by the stock market crash of 1929, forcing Della to get a job

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as a secretary. Of course, by the time of the

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TV series in the 1950s and 1960s, this would have not fit well with the age of the characters as then portrayed.

Related Topics:
1950s - 1960s

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Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason in a series of novels, was a very prolific author, who employed three secretaries simultaneously, all sisters,

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to keep up with his output. One of them he eventually married, after his first wife, from whom he

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was separated for 30 years, died. This was Jean Gardner, born Agnes Helene Walter. People who

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knew her believed she was the inspiration for Della Street, though neither she, nor Erle Stanley

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Gardner himself, admitted it. Mrs. Gardner said she thought he put several girls together to create

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the character.

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