Trivia

In a roundabout way, he created The Edge of Night (1956). That series was originally the CBS radio serial "Perry Mason". Gardner blocked CBS' attempt to transfer the serial from radio to TV because he wanted "Mason" to be a prime-time series. After negotiating some unusual conditions, the radio serial became "Edge" and Gardner got his prime-time series, Perry Mason (1957).

The creator of Perry Mason, arguably the most famous fictional lawyer in history, was himself a practicing attorney for over 20 years.

He passed the bar exam at the age of 21.

His Perry Mason stories were so popular that he wrote six novels a year plus short stories for magazine publication.

Used pseudonyms for some of his works, including Carleton Kendrake and Charles J. Kenny. However, A.A. Fair was the most popular of his pen names. Since Gardner was such a prolific writer, the pseudonyms were necessary to sell other works, lest the market be flooded.

Wrote for the popular pulp detective magazine "Black Mask" on a sporadic basis in the early 1920s (creating wildly popular "Ed Jenkins, Phantom Crook" stories in 1925). He continued to write pulp stories for the magazine into the 1940s.

Wrote mysteries for money, and wrote travel books for fun.

In 1957 formed, with Gail Patrick and Cornwell Jackson, Paisano Productions, which produced the Perry Mason (1957) TV series.

Inducted into the Bowhunters Hall of Fame.