Paul Drake (character)
| Paul Drake | |
|---|---|
| Perry Mason character | |
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| Created by | Erle Stanley Gardner |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Private detective |
| Nationality | American |
Paul Drake is a fictional private detective in the Perry Mason series of murder mystery novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Drake is described as tall and slouching, frequently wearing an expression of droll humor. He is friend and right-hand man to Mason, a highly successful criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles.
Allen Jenkins played a variation on the Paul Drake character, referred to as Spudsy Drake, in two 1935 films based on Gardner novels, The Case of the Curious Bride and The Case of the Lucky Legs.
Eddie Acuff took over the Spudsy role in the 1936 film The Case of the Velvet Claws.
In 1957, the CBS television network launched a Perry Mason series based on Gardner's characters. William Hopper auditioned for both the Mason and Drake roles. "He was perfect as Drake, and we got him," recalled executive producer Gail Patrick Jackson.
"Paul Drake in the Erle Stanley Gardner books was an entirely different character," Hopper said in 1962. "I play him my way. Now I'm amused to read Gardner's new books. Paul Drake now comes out like me!"
"Just as Raymond Burr will always be Perry Mason, Bill Hopper will always be Paul Drake," wrote Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill in their chronicle of the TV series. "He defined the role."
A running gag on the series, is that although Paul Drake is a "wolf" and nearly dates every woman that appears on the series, the only woman he does not date is Della Street whom he always respectfully refers to as Hi Beautiful.
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