Villainess Review: Norma Carter (Perry Mason)

Without question, Perry Mason has to be one of the most iconic shows in TV history. Based on the novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason aired on CBS for nine seasons and 271 episodes from 1957 until 1966, with only Season Nine's "The Case of the Twice-Told Twist," being filmed in color. Raymond Burr starred in the series as the titular lawyer, with the show setting the bar when it came to legal dramas. The series spawned a short-lived reboot, The New Perry Mason, which didn't feature any of the original cast, but beginning in 1985, Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale (the latter playing Mason's secretary, Della Street) appeared in a series of Perry Mason telefilms. 30 such films aired on TV from 1985-1995, with "The Case of the Killer Kiss" being Burr's final film, airing two months after his passing, while the final four films carried on without the lead actor. In 2020, a Perry Mason reboot series debuted on HBO, with Matthew Rhys in the title role.

The series had its collection of fiendish women, which I consider quite revolutionary for a series that aired in the 1950s and 1960s, with a memorable one appearing all the way back in the later moments of the show's first season. "The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde" featured a woman named Diana Reynolds as Mason's client, as she had been let go from her position with the wealthy Bartlett family, because of accusations of stealing jewelry belonging to Helen Bartlett--whose son, Tony Adams, gave her the titular black eye. Mason's meeting with Matthew Bartlett was interrupted by Lt. Tragg informing Mason that Diana Reynolds was found murdered. However, when the body is shown, Mason states that it is not Diana, and the victim is actually Diana's roommate, Marian Shaw.

So Diana ended up suspected after Mason spoke with a friend of Marian's, a woman named Norma Carter. Norma was Matthew's daughter-in-law, having been married to Matthew's son, Robert Bartlett, until Robert's untimely death. She also had a son, Bobby Carter, and regarding Marian, Norma stated that she last saw Marian three months prior, with the meeting seeing Marian vent about Diana. The trial sees Tony stick to the claim that Diana was stealing his mother's jewelry, though it comes out that Tony actually set Diana up. It also involves a diary kept by Marian, with the contents being allowed to be unveiled during the trial.

As for Norma, she was shown at the trial, but she would later be visited by Mason and Della, with the former having the diary in his possession. Mason revealed some key entries from the diary, with one of them taking place from July 27, four years prior to the events. Marian mentioned Saint Catherine's, which was revealed to be a hospital in Mexico City, and also mentioned Norma doing everything she can for "him." So who was "him," you ask? Another entry, dated exactly a year later, revealed "him" as none other than Bobby Carter, who was actually Marian's son and not Norma's as originally introduced.

So as the diary's contents revealed, Marian gave birth to Bobby in Mexico City, but because she wasn't married, she gave her son to Norma to raise; however, Norma decided to use Bobby in a greedy scheme, which centered on the claim that Bobby was Matthew's grandson. Matthew had received a call condemning Norma's mothering skills, and there was also a letter sent that said the same thing, but as Mason stated, that was all Norma, as she was planning on Matthew resorting to paying Norma to have his grandson with him--though Norma denied everything. As for Marian's murder, that was also Norma. While Norma did see Marian three months beforehand, she knew that Marian's presence would ruin her plan, so Norma shot Marian to death. Norma rushed went to her jeep and continued to deny everything before driving off, but she ended up crashing into a bus. The accident left Norma with little time left to live, and on her deathbed, she admitted to killing Marian, but wouldn't admit to anything else before she quickly passed away. As for Matthew, he never knew that Bobby wasn't his actual grandson, but after seeing how happy he was with Bobby, Mason decided not to tell him the truth.

"The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde" was based on one of Gardner's many novels, and served as the 37th and antepenultimate episode of Perry Mason's first season. The episode aired on June 14, 1958 and featured Phyllis Coates as the evil Norma Carter, who had to be one of the most memorable villainesses in the show's history. Here's a woman who received the gift of a child from her friend, and she decides to use her adopted son in a greedy scheme, and resorted to killing her son's birth mother to keep her evil plans from being unveiled. Norma's reveal saw her arrogantly deny everything against her, but her deathbed confession was really something. Even then, there was no semblance of any remorse or guilt from Norma, as the villainess basically confessed knowing that she was not long for this world, and even then, Norma only admitted to the murder, saying nothing about using Bobby to get money from Matthew. Coates' performance was very stellar, but of course, her best acting in the episode was Norma's villainous deathbed confession, which saw Coates act out Norma's resignation that she was going to die, as well as her half-hearted admission to murder.

Phyllis Coates' appearance in this episode was her first of three on the series, though this was her lone villainous appearance. In an acting carrer that ended in 1996, Coates appeared on several shows and films, but her most known role was playing Lois Lane in the first season of Adventures of Superman; she was replaced for the rest of the series by actress Noel Neill. Coates later played Ellen Lane, the mother of Teri Hatcher's Lois Lane, in a first season episode of Lois & Clark (she was replaced in the character's next six appearances by Beverly Garland).

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