Perry Mason
The Case of the Angry Dead Man
TV Flash files “The Case of the Angry Dead Man” as hour 113 of 271 in the TV Flash guide — Perry Mason (1957–1966) on CBS, season 4, episode 18, aired 1961-02-25, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E18: listed hour 113 of 271 in the Perry Mason guide, hour 18 of 28 in season 4. It aired 1961-02-25 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Case of the Wintry Wife” (S04E17). Next is “The Case of the Blind Man's Bluff” (S04E19).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Willard Nesbitt stages his own death so his wife can collect on a large insurance policy. Then he learns his business partner means to cheat the wife out of some mining property royalties. Nesbitt's "return to life" is short lived, and Perry Mason defend
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Case of the Angry Dead Man sit in the Perry Mason guide?
S04E18 is listed hour 113 of 271 — hour 18 of 28 in season 4, season 4 episode 18.
When did Perry Mason S04E18 air?
The Case of the Angry Dead Man aired 1961-02-25 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with the 1957 restless-redhead opener to learn the grammar, then one tight first-season case. The pleasure is structure, not a serialized mystery box.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Burr’s stillness is the camera’s argument: delay as pleasure, court as stage, the last witness as a kept promise. Watch a weekly legal machine that made justice appointment theater — then the rare hour the rails fail, which is how you learn the contract was always a contract.
Watch the stillness first. Raymond Burr does not play brilliance as sweat. He plays it as furniture that has already been placed. Perry Mason, from the 1957 opener onward, is a legal procedural that understands delay as pleasure: investigation as a corridor, the courtroom as a stage, the last witness as a structural promise. The tabloids will say Burr’s public image was a managed cathedral — and they are not wrong, as gossip. The cut says something dryer. The camera trusts a man who barely moves, then lets the…
Filed against
- Raymond Burr as Perry Mason
Raymond Burr’s Perry Mason made courtroom theater a comfort contract — the real killer almost always stood up, appointment justice served, stillness as the camera’s argument. Carefully managed public image is old-Hollywood PR textbook. On…
- Barbara Hale as Della Street
Barbara Hale’s Della Street made Perry Mason appointment justice look like a partnership — loyal, sharp, and essential when the real killer stood up. She carried the franchise into TV movies with the same steel. TV Flash salutes the…
- William Hopper as Paul Drake
William Hopper’s Paul Drake is Perry Mason’s investigator as a kept promise — nine seasons of courtroom architecture, Raymond Burr’s stillness, a killer who almost always rises, delay as pleasure. On TV Flash he is the last-witness…
- William Talman as Hamilton Burger
William Talman’s Hamilton Burger is Perry Mason’s district attorney as a formal contract — nine seasons of courtroom architecture, a last witness who almost always rises, delay as pleasure, Burr’s stillness as the camera’s argument. On TV…
- Ray Collins as Lt. Arthur Tragg
Ray Collins’s Lt. Arthur Tragg was Perry Mason’s necessary other department — the cop across from Raymond Burr’s stillness, investigation as a corridor, court as a stage. Nine seasons of a killer who almost always rose. TV Flash still…