Deep and abiding friendships are hard to come by in the cutthroat world of Hollywood – they’re rarer than true friendships on daytime dramas. But they do exist. Take for instance the one that existed for years between an enormously popular soap star and the man who played one of television’s most trusted characters.
Which Soap Star Was It?
All of these actresses are either an alum of a long-ago classic – like Another World, As the World Turns, and Capitol – or they are alums of one of the four currently airing daytime dramas – The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless. But only one of them can claim that they shared a decades-long friendship with Raymond Burr – who played perhaps the world’s most famous (fictitious) lawyer.
But who can that actor be? Was it Constance Ford (ex-Ada Hobson, AW), Christian Le Blanc (ex-Kirk McColl, ATWT), Julie Adams (ex-Paula Denning, Capitol), Constance Towers (ex-Helena Cassadine, GH), or Jeanne Cooper (ex-Katherine Chancellor, YR)?
Constance Ford
Ford and Burr weren’t bosom buddies. However, they did magnificent work together across three episodes of the CBS procedural including one titled The Case of the Deadly Double, a fan favorite featuring Ford as a woman with a split personality.
Christian LeBlanc
Le Blanc only had the chance to work with the venerable actor once in his career as his one time Perry Mason appearance – 1993’s The Case of the Killer Kiss – proved to be Burr’s final acting role prior to his passing.
Julie Adams
Adams made four guest appearances on Perry Mason between 1963 and 1965 and she will forever go down in history as playing the defense attorney’s only convicted client.
Constance Towers
Though the only interaction between the thespians took place on the soundstage, Towers still fondly remembers Burr as a brilliant actor and a joy to work with it. And work with him she did. In a four-year period, Towers filmed five episodes of Perry Mason. In her first two outings, she played the murderess.
Jeanne Cooper
Cooper appeared in five episodes of Perry Mason beginning with 1958’s The Case of the Corresponding Corpse and finishing with The Case of the Vanishing Victim in 1966. The actress was a good friend of Barbara Hale, who played Mason’s dutiful secretary Della Street and she also had a close friendship (and a one-time love affair) with Burr!
So, if you guessed that the soap star in question was Jeanne Cooper – who also joined Burr for three episodes in his Mason follow-up series, Ironside – then you were absolutely correct!
