On the 15th of every month, we publish something about of Our Fave Lawyer
A Tribute to Gavin MacLeod
Passing away at the age of 90 on May 29 of this year was this actor best known for his membership in ensembles that made hit shows of Mary Tyler Moore and The Love Boat in the 1970s. But he did a lot of TV in the 1960s, including three episodes on Perry Mason.
In The Case of the Grumbling Grandfather (5/27/61), he plays a couple of scenes as an accountant who is lead astray by the designing Patricia Barry. We unfortunately do not get much backstory as to why a quiet numbers guy would lose his head and end up facing ugly time for getting involved in a felony that causes a homicide. For this character, so bald by only age 30 might have undermined his confidence and made him vulnerable to tests of his integrity presented by a femme fatale . I rank it as one of the better ones because of Patricia Barry, but Otto Kruger as the grandfather has a lively irascibility couple with high standards for male behavior (basically, “only a dummy loses his head to a designing woman”) but enough humility to admit, “That's the first time in my life I was ever right about a woman..”
The Case of the Runaway Racer (11/14/65), he plays a small role as corrupt sports reporter. He plays it convincingly sleazy, snapping his gum and talking with bravado as a cover-up to a guilty conscience. What really makes him memorable, though, is the baggy suit, loud bow tie, and alpine hat. A man wearing an alpine hat, we learn from watching Perry Mason, is up to no good. Made in the final season, this is an episode with a simple story but many characters that does not have much going for it except the cars (Paul Drake drives a nice Stingray covertible). It is not helped by Michael Constantine popping off like loud slob Jack Klugman at every opportunity.
The Case of the Grinning Gorilla (4/29/65) is a wacky episode with much silliness going down, so it’s one of my favorites. MacLeod plays a business manager to a miser that keeps a gorilla in the house. Mason fandom deplores MacLeod’s chewing up the scenery, but I like his scenes with character actor Victor Buono. Buono steals the show with some fine scenes of him deploying sarcasms to get under Mason’s skin.
Mason fandom is split on this episode, made in the next to the last season, when the writers were getting a bit weary. Lots of fans can’t get past the guy in an ape suit to liven things up, but I think the scene where Lurene Tuttle and Burr are on the floor, unthreateningly trying not to look the gorilla in the eye, is a hoot. Burr has a dubious look on his face like, “Here we go again!” Was he having distressing flashbacks of his 1951 outing Bride of the Gorilla? Or his turn with Warren Stevens, Lee Marvin (!), Lee J. Cobb (!!), Anne Bancroft (!!!), in 1954’s Gorilla at Large?
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