Seven Things to Know About William Hopper

1. William Hopper auditioned for the TV series Perry Mason--for the role of Perry! You can view his screen test opposite Ray Collins as Lieutenant Tragg on YouTube. The part went to Raymond Burr, of course, and Hopper was cast as private investigator Paul Drake. He was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series in 1959.

2. William DeWolf Hopper Jr. was born in 1915 to actors DeWolf and Hedda Hopper. His father became a theatre producer and his mother became a famous Hollywood gossip columnist. For William's film roles in the 1930s and 1940s, he was listed as DeWolf Hopper--if he got a credit at all.

3. In her 1962 book The Whole Truth and Nothing But, Hedda Hopper wrote about her son: "When he went off to war, he'd already attained stature as an actor. On his return--with a medal for valor which I've never seen--not one soul in the motion picture industry offered him a job. Hell would have frozen over before I'd have asked anyone for help for a member of my family. So Bill went to work selling automobiles for "Madman" Muntz. One day he woke up to the fact that he was an actor, got himself a part with Bill Wellman in The High and the Mighty--and asked Wellman not to tell anybody who his mother was."

4. William Hopper acted in over 100 films prior to joining the Navy during World War II. His appearances consisted of bit parts, though often in A-pictures with stars like John Garfield, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. He was in six Errol Flynn films: Virginia City, They Died With Their Boots On, Dive Bomber, Footsteps in the Dark, Desperate Journey, and Gentleman Jim.

5. William Hopper and Raymond Burr each acted in films opposite Natalie Wood prior to Perry Mason. Hopper played Natalie Wood's father in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Burr starred as a psychopath who held Wood's character captive in A Cry in the Night (1956). 

With Patty McCormick in The Bad Seed.

6. Hopper's other notable pre-Perry Mason film roles were in The Bad Seed (1956) as little Rhoda's father and in the science fiction movies The Deadly Mantis and 20 Million Miles to Earth (both 1957). He appeared earlier in Conquest of Space (1955), co-starring two other future TV stars: Eric Fleming (Rawhide) and Ross Martin (The Wild Wild West).

7. William Hopper retired from acting after Perry Mason ended its run--though he had a small unbilled part as a judge in Myra Breckinridge (1970). He died of pneumonia after experiencing a stroke in 1970; he was 55. He was survived by his second wife Jeanette Ward and daughter Joan from his first marriage.