# Did a black or female Judge ever appear on "Perry Mason"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [September 8, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340 "2009-09-08T22:13:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/1 "2009-09-08T22:13:34Z")
Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/2 "2009-09-08T23:01:47Z")
So close, and yet so far! Several first season episodes featured someone named “Fay Roope” as a Judge. Further examination showed Fay to be a guy. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/3 "2009-09-08T23:09:02Z")
I am going by very vauge memories but I think there was a female judge at least once. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/4 "2009-09-08T23:13:06Z")
But WAIT! This site lists TWO female actresses who appeared as judges! [The actresses’ names were Lillian Bronson and Paula Winslow.](http://www.perrymasontvseries.com/pm_stats.htm) ---
**Author:** ![cblackhand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@cblackhand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cblackhand)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/5 "2009-09-09T21:57:10Z")
> [@Tenar](#): > > But WAIT! This site lists TWO female actresses who appeared as judges! [The actresses’ names were Lillian Bronson and Paula Winslow.](http://www.perrymasontvseries.com/pm_stats.htm) [Pam Ward](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0911769/) also played a female judge, Judge Eleanor Daniels, in 3 episodes. She is a good friend’s mother and still had her gavel from the role. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/6 "2009-09-10T03:33:29Z")
What About ‘Stacy’… Stacy Keach, that is. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Barrister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Tom\_Barrister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Barrister)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/7 "2014-02-15T05:14:48Z")
I know this is an old thread. A black judge did appear in “The Case of the Skeleton’s Closet,” but he was uncredited, and nobody seems to know his name. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/8 "2014-02-15T06:11:19Z")
Here is a description of the episode with a photo of the judge (you have to click on a link): [http://www.perrymasontvseries.com/wiki/index.php/EpisodePages/Show179](http://www.perrymasontvseries.com/wiki/index.php/EpisodePages/Show179) He looks to be middle-aged. If anyone wants to search further, would think he may have appeared on TV in the '50s, possibly in _ **Amos ‘n’ Andy** _. I say that only because _ **A’n’A** _ featured many, many black actors of the period. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/9 "2014-02-16T01:43:46Z")
Are you limiting it to the old b&w series or does the 80’s revival TV movies count? I don’t know for certain, but I’d have to think there’d be some lady or black judges in some of those. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/10 "2014-02-16T03:25:24Z")
From the Perry Mason website: [The judge](http://www.perrymasontvseries.com/wiki/index.php/Extras/Show179) and Ivan Dixon, who some thought might be the actor. Doesn’t look like him to me. And he doesn’t look like any of the noteworthy Amos & Andy actors, either, or any familiar Black actors of that era (Stack Pierce, Davis Roberts, James Edwards–whom he most resembles in my opinion). Probably will remain a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/11 "2014-02-16T04:23:56Z")
You can watch the episode with the mystery actor (“The Case of the Skeleton’s Closet”) at CBS [here](http://www.cbs.com/shows/perry_mason/video/V1EJtC3oygyKqHodpqai9_0neyCzpUj4/the-case-of-the-skeleton-s-closet). I haven’t watched the whole thing, but the clearest shot of the judge seems to be at time 45:25. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/12 "2020-10-18T22:29:14Z")
My response from 2014 was wrong. Identified just two years ago. Former real life judge and part-time actor [Vincent Monroe Townsend Jr.](https://reelrundown.com/tv/Perry-Mason-The-Case-of-the-Silent-Black-Judge-and-More). And also. . . former roommate of none other than Justice Thurgood Marshall. I thought he looked familiar from one or more eps of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” as noted above, but when this was posted, I no longer had the videos to verify. Turns out he appeard in several. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-a-black-or-female-judge-ever-appear-on-perry-mason/509340/13 "2020-11-04T14:16:29Z")
And, you can see a much older Vincent Townsend in the movie ‘Weird Science’ in which he has the honor is sitting beside Kelly Lebrock in the bar scene.