As William Shatner struts his way back onto screens in new episodes of ''Boston Legal,'' we belly up to the Bar Association with other onscreen attorneys we love, like Perry Mason, Atticus Finch, and Ally McBeal
By Adam Markovitz
Apr 08, 2008
(EW.com)
ATTICUS FINCH
Played by Gregory Peck
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
After four fruitless Oscar noms, Peck finally took home a statue for his role as a socially conscious lawyer in Depression-era Alabama.
PERRY MASON
Played by Raymond Burr
Perry Mason (1957-1966)
The granddaddy of all TV lawyers, Mason was squeezing last-minute confessions out of crooks decades before the legal eagles on Law & Order passed their LSATs.
VINCENT GAMBINI
Played by Joe Pesci
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Pesci (pictured, right) is a comic dream and every judge's worst nightmare as an ambulance chaser from Brooklyn who arrives in a small Alabama town to defend his cousins against a misguided murder charge.
LT. DANIEL KAFFEE
Played by Tom Cruise
A Few Good Men (1992)
Cruise's tabloid antics have overshadowed his acting accomplishments of late, but the truth (if you can handle it!) is that his performance as a military lawyer in this blockbuster is nothing short of electrifying.
ALLY MCBEAL
Played by Calista Flockhart
Ally McBeal (1997-2002)
So what if she was a neurotic mess with a ticking biological clock and some dangerously high hemlines? Flockhart's waifish career gal was also a courtroom heavyweight who became a post-feminist icon.
By Adam Markovitz
Apr 08, 2008
(EW.com)
ATTICUS FINCH
Played by Gregory Peck
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
After four fruitless Oscar noms, Peck finally took home a statue for his role as a socially conscious lawyer in Depression-era Alabama.
PERRY MASON
Played by Raymond Burr
Perry Mason (1957-1966)
The granddaddy of all TV lawyers, Mason was squeezing last-minute confessions out of crooks decades before the legal eagles on Law & Order passed their LSATs.
VINCENT GAMBINI
Played by Joe Pesci
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Pesci (pictured, right) is a comic dream and every judge's worst nightmare as an ambulance chaser from Brooklyn who arrives in a small Alabama town to defend his cousins against a misguided murder charge.
LT. DANIEL KAFFEE
Played by Tom Cruise
A Few Good Men (1992)
Cruise's tabloid antics have overshadowed his acting accomplishments of late, but the truth (if you can handle it!) is that his performance as a military lawyer in this blockbuster is nothing short of electrifying.
ALLY MCBEAL
Played by Calista Flockhart
Ally McBeal (1997-2002)
So what if she was a neurotic mess with a ticking biological clock and some dangerously high hemlines? Flockhart's waifish career gal was also a courtroom heavyweight who became a post-feminist icon.