Della Street

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Della Street was the fictional secretary of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner.

Della Street was played by Barbara Hale, in the television series and made-for-TV movies. She was played by Sharon Acker in the short-lived revival series, The New Perry Mason starring Monte Markham as Mason.

In the very first Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws, written in the early days of the Great Depression it is revealed that Della Street came from a wealthy, or at least well-to-do, family that was wiped out by the stock market crash of 1929, forcing Della to get a job as a secretary. Of course, by the time of the TV series in the 1950s and 1960s, this would have not fit well with the age of the characters as then portrayed. According to The Case Of The Caretaker's Cat, she is approximately fifteen years younger than Perry Mason.

Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason in a series of novels, was a very prolific author, who employed three secretaries simultaneously, all sisters, to keep up with his output. One of them he eventually married, after his first wife, from whom he was separated for 30 years, died. This was Jean Gardner, born Agnes Helene Walter. People who knew her believed she was the inspiration for Della Street, though neither she nor Erle Stanley Gardner himself admitted it. Mrs. Gardner said she thought he put several girls together to create the character.