1930s–1940s Hopper began his acting career as a teenager. He made his first stage appearance at the
Pasadena Community Playhouse, in
She Loves Me Not. He worked in
summer stock in
Ogunquit, Maine. He appeared on
Broadway in
Order Please (1934) and as a member of the ensemble in
Katharine Cornell's production of
Romeo and Juliet (1934–35). In 1936, Hopper won a contract at
Paramount Pictures. He was credited in movies as Wolfe Hopper and DeWolf Hopper. In 1936, he appeared in
The King Steps Out, and in 1937 he was in
Public Wedding, Over the Goal, The Footloose Heiress and in 1938,
Mystery House. and as a member of the newly created
Underwater Demolition Team. He received a
Bronze Star and several other medals during operations in the Pacific. For eight years after the war, Hopper became involved in business and sold cars in Hollywood. "I didn't even think about acting much until a friend, director
Bill Wellman, asked me to do a part in
The High and the Mighty," Hopper recalled.
1950s In 1953, director William Wellman persuaded Hopper to resume his movie career with his 1954 film,
The High and the Mighty, opposite
Jan Sterling. Before filming began, Hopper challenged Wellman because he suspected his mother had arranged the offer. "When it appeared Wellman was serious, I asked him if he knew whose son I was. He ignored me," Hopper recalled. "I was so lousy, so nervous, I didn't even know where the camera was. But somehow Billy got me through. Afterward, I thanked him. He said, 'Thank me, my foot. After this, you're going to be in every picture I make.' I didn't believe him." He returned that year as murdering outlaw 'Tasker' in S1E38's "Unknown Grave". The following year he played a supporting role in the pilot episode of the television series
The Restless Gun, which was broadcast as an episode of
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars. Some of Hopper's other television guest appearances include
The Joseph Cotten Show: On Trial,
Fury,
Studio 57, and
The Millionaire.
Perry Mason Hopper is best known for his principal role as the private investigator
Paul Drake on
CBS's courtroom television series
Perry Mason (1957–66). He initially tested for the title role, while
Raymond Burr read for the role of Mason's courtroom adversary, district attorney
Hamilton Burger. Burr was encouraged to lose weight and return to audition for the role of Perry Mason – which he did, successfully. Hopper, too, was called back. Executive producer
Gail Patrick Jackson recalled, "When Bill Hopper came in to read for Paul Drake he blurted out, 'You hate my mother.' And that was Hedda Hopper. Well, I disliked what she stood for, but 'hate' is something else — and anyway he was perfect as Drake, and we got him." Wrote Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill in their chronicle of the television series: ==Awards and honors==