It was a great show. The man who played the judge in that last episode you mentioned was Earl Stanley Garner, who was more than the creator of the series. He was the author of the books that the series was based on. The first two seasons are taken directly from the books, but the tv version is better. He personally chose Raymond Burr for the role and it was a great choice.

I might add that watching Perry Mason is a who's who of people who later became famous playing suspects(The Skipper from Gilligan's Island, Commissioner Gordon and Batman from Batman, Burt Reynolds, etc.)

The only weakness was that the mysteries did have one pattern - if there was an accountant on the show, he was almost inevitably the murderer.:D