Hamilton Burger is the fictional

Los Angeles County District Attorney The District Attorney of Los Angeles County is in charge of the office that prosecutor, prosecutes felony and misdemeanor crimes that occur within Los Angeles County, California, United States. The current district attorney (DA) is Nathan Hochma ...

(D.A.) in the series of

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film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s, and

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and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

programs featuring

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and four short stories, all of which involve a ...

, the fictional

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

attorney created by

Erle Stanley Gardner Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American author and lawyer, best known for the Perry Mason series of legal detective stories. Gardner also wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces as well as a series of no ...

Character

Hamilton Burger first appears in chapter 10 of Gardner's 1935 novel, ''The Case of the Counterfeit Eye'', in which he is described as "a broad-shouldered, thick-necked individual with a close-cropped moustache". Gardner describes Burger in the cast of characters of that novel as an "honest but stubborn" D.A. In chapter 15 of ''The Case of the Caretaker's Cat'' (1935), Burger's residential address is given as 3297 West Lakeside, and his phone number is EXposition 9–6949. Burger is one of literature's least successful district attorneys, and

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s have suggested that he must have been the most incompetent lawyer in history, although his record against defense attorneys other than Mason is unknown. He inevitably prosecutes the wrong personMason's clientwhom Mason exonerates, while revealing the true culprit, through dramatic and even spectacular courtroom tactics. Burger's bag of tricks was comparatively empty, chiefly comprising expressions of exasperation at whatever Mason was doing. Once Mason had exposed the true perpetrator, Burger often joined in Mason's motion to dismiss the charges against Mason's client so that Burger could then charge the actual wrongdoer.

In film

Hamilton Burger appeared in the fifth installment of the Warner Bros. Perry Mason movie series of the 1930s, '' The Case of the Black Cat.'' He was portrayed by Guy Usher. The character, now portrayed by Charles C. Wilson, played a larger role in the sixth and final film in the series, '' The Case of the Stuttering Bishop''.

Television portrayal

''Perry Mason''

Burger was portrayed by William Talman in the long-running CBS-TV series ''

'' (1957–66). Asked how he felt about Burger losing to Mason week after week, Talman said, "Burger doesn't lose. How can a district attorney lose when he fails to convict an innocent person? Unlike a fist or gun fight, in court you can have a winner without having a loser. As a matter of fact Burger in a good many instances has joined Mason in action against unethical attorneys, lying witnesses, or any one else obstructing justice. Like any real-life district attorney, justice is Burger's main interest." Burger did defeat Mason twice on the television series: in "The Case of the Terrified Typist" (episode 1-38), and in "The Case of the Deadly Verdict" (episode 7–4), a much-publicized episode that begins with Mason's client being sentenced to death. The character of Hamilton Burger temporarily disappeared from the TV series during the series' third season. Talman was fired by CBS March 18, 1960, hours after he entered a not-guilty plea to misdemeanor charges related to his presence at a party that was raided by police. The schedule was immediately juggled to minimize Talman's presence on the show. "The Case of the Crying Cherub" (episode 3-20) debuts a pared-down title sequence that omits Talman; he is credited only in the four episodes he filmed before he was fired. Talman was defended by the show's executive producer Gail Patrick Jackson,

Raymond Burr Raymond William Stacy Burr (May 21, 1917September 12, 1993) was a Canadian actor who had a lengthy Hollywood film career and portrayed the title roles in the television dramas '' Perry Mason'' and '' Ironside''. Burr's early acting career inclu ...

, and others, but even dismissal of the charges in June did not soften the network's position. Patrick said that the role of Burger would not be recast, but that various actors would play assistant district attorneys. CBS reinstated Talman only after Gardner himself spoke out, along with

, the star of the show, and millions of viewers who wrote to CBS asking for Talman to return. Talman went back to work in December 1960, and Burger returned in "The Case of the Fickle Fortune" (episode 4.15).

''The New Perry Mason''

In the short-lived CBS-TV series, '' The New Perry Mason'' (1973–74), Burger was played by

Harry Guardino Harold Vincent Guardino (December 23, 1925 – July 17, 1995) was an American actor whose career ran from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. Biography Guardino was born on December 23, 1925 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and raised ...

''Perry Mason'' television films

Talman had passed away by the time of the ''Perry Mason'' television movies of the 1980s and 1990s, but his character was referenced in the first of the series, ''Perry Mason Returns''. In it, a cocky young deputy prosecutor describes her case against Mason's client as a "dead-bang winner," to which the district attorney replies, "You know how many times Hamilton Burger said that?"

HBO's ''Perry Mason''

In the HBO series, ''

'' (2020), assistant district attorney Burger was a graduate of

Yale Law Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United States. Its yield ...

with 22 years of trial experience, played by Justin Kirk. This series takes place 1931–1932, before Mason becomes a defense attorney. The adversary is district attorney Maynard Barnes, a character created for the series, played by

Stephen Root Stephen Root (born November 17, 1951) is an American actor. He has starred as Jimmy James on the NBC sitcom ''NewsRadio'' (1995–1999), as Milton Waddams in the film ''Office Space'' (1999), and voiced Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland on the a ...

. Burger, meanwhile, is depicted as helping Mason study for the

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

. Mason believes, as does

Della Street Della Street is the fictional secretary of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, short stories, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner. In 1950, Gardner publ ...

, that Burger is helping mainly so that he can run for DA when Barnes is humiliated by losing the high-profile case, but he does not himself confirm this. In the series, he is depicted as a closeted gay man who keeps up his facade by making public appearances with Della, who is herself a lesbian.

Influence

In her confirmation hearings before the

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in July 2009,

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nominee

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

prefaced her remarks on the role of the prosecutor by claiming that she was inspired by watching ''Perry Mason'' as a child, explaining, "I was influenced so greatly by a television show in igniting the passion that I had as being a prosecutor, and it was ''

''. In her 2013 memoir, Sotomayor, now a

Supreme Court justice The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

, wrote of the show's influence on her while she was growing up in a Bronx housing project. Sotomayor granted that the defense attorney was the show's hero, "but my sympathies were not entirely monopolized by Perry Mason. I was fond of Burger, the prosecutor, too. I liked that he was a good loser, that he was more committed to finding the truth than to winning his case. If the defendant was truly innocent, he once explained, and the case was dismissed, then he had done his job because justice had been served."

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Hamilton Erle Stanley Gardner characters Fictional American lawyers Perry Mason characters Characters in American novels of the 20th century Characters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction Literary characters introduced in 1935