Barbara Hale
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Apr 18, 1922
- Died
- Jan 26, 2017 (aged 94)
- Place of birth
- DeKalb, Illinois, USA
- Credits
- 91
Barbara Hale (April 18, 1922 - January 26, 2017) was an American actress best known for her role as legal secretary Della Street on more than 250 episodes of the long-running Perry Mason television series and in 30 made-for-TV movies.
Hale was born in DeKalb, Illinois, to Luther Ezra Hale, a landscape gardener, and his wife, Wilma Colvin. She is of Scots-Irish ancestry. Hale graduated from high school in Rockford, Illinois, then attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, planning to become an artist. Her performing career began in Chicago when she started modeling to pay for her education. She moved to Hollywood in 1943, and made her first screen appearances playing small parts (often uncredited).
Hale was under contract to RKO Radio Pictures through the late 1940s. She appeared in Higher and Higher (1943) with Frank Sinatra; played leading lady to Robert Mitchum in West of the Pecos (1945); enjoyed top billing in both Lady Luck (1946) opposite Robert Young and The Window (1949) with Arthur Kennedy; and co-starred in Jolson Sings Again (1949), with Larry Parks playing Al Jolson and Hale as Jolson's wife, Ellen Clark. She played the top-billed title role in Lorna Doone (1951) and portrayed Julia Hancock in The Far Horizons (1955) with Fred MacMurray and Charlton Heston.
Her flourishing movie career more or less ended when Hale accepted her best known role, Della Street, secretary to attorney Perry Mason, in the TV series with Raymond Burr. The show ran from 1957 to 1966, and she reprised the role in several television movies. Her last performance to date was in 2000 at age 78. In 1967 she guest starred on the ABC series Custer. Hale also had a featured role in the 1970 ensemble film Airport, playing the wife of a jetliner pilot (Dean Martin).
Known for
Filmography
Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester
1995Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
1994Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle
1994Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
1993Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss
1993Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host
1993Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal
1993Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride
1992Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo
1992Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing
1992Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion
1991Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
1991Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster
1991Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter
1991Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter
1990Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer
1990Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception
1990Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen
1990Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin
1989Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder
1989Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson
1989Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
1988Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
1988Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
1987Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
1987Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit
1987Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love
1987Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star
1986Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun
1986Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason Returns
1985Movie
Della Street
Perry Mason Returns
1985TV
Della Street
The Young Runaways
1978Movie
Mrs. Ogle
Big Wednesday
1978Movie
Mrs. Barlow
The Flight of the Grey Wolf
1976Movie
Mrs Hanson
The Giant Spider Invasion
1975Movie
Dr. Jenny Langer
Dinah!
1974TV
Self
Chester, Yesterday’s Horse
1973Movie
Mrs. Belle Kincaid
The Red, White, and Black
1970Movie
Mrs. Alice Grierson
Airport
1970Movie
Sarah Demerest
Marcus Welby, M.D.
1969TV
Marjorie Brandon
The Doris Day Show
1968TV
Thelma King
Adam-12
1968TV
Bonnie Jessup
Buckskin
1968Movie
Sarah Cody
Desert Hell
1958Movie
Celie Edwards
Slim Carter
1957Movie
Allie Hanneman
Perry Mason
1957TV
Della Street
The Oklahoman
1957Movie
Anne
7th Cavalry
1956Movie
Martha Kellogg
The Country Husband
1956Movie
Mrs. Julia Wiley
The Houston Story
1956Movie
Zoe Crane
Meet the Governor
1955Movie
June Waters
Screen Director's Playhouse
1955TV
June Waters
Unchained
1955Movie
Mary Davitt
The Far Horizons
1955Movie
Julia Hancock
The Millionaire
1955TV
Kathy Munson / Marian Munson
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954TV
Mrs. Ogle
Climax!
1954TV
Mamie Eunson
Studio 57
1954TV
Ruth
Lassie
1954TV
A Lion Is in the Streets
1953Movie
Verity Wade Martin
Letter to Loretta
1953TV
Mrs. Strawn
The Lone Hand
1953Movie
Sarah Jane Skaggs
Seminole
1953Movie
Revere
Last of the Comanches
1953Movie
Julia Lanning
General Electric Theater
1953TV
Ellen Newman, Lorraine
The Ford Television Theatre
1952TV
Marta Linden, Katherine Charles, Nora White
The First Time
1952Movie
Betsey Bennett
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951TV
Ginny Morgan
Lorna Doone
1951Movie
Lorna Doone
Emergency Wedding
1950Movie
Dr. Helen Hunt
The Jackpot
1950Movie
Amy Lawrence
And Baby Makes Three
1949Movie
Jacqueline 'Jackie' Walsh
Jolson Sings Again
1949Movie
Ellen Clark
The Window
1949Movie
Mary Woodry
The Clay Pigeon
1949Movie
Martha Gregory
The Boy with Green Hair
1948Movie
Miss Brand
A Likely Story
1947Movie
Vicki
Lady Luck
1946Movie
Mary Audrey
First Yank into Tokyo
1945Movie
Abby Drake
West of the Pecos
1945Movie
Rill Lambeth
The Falcon in Hollywood
1944Movie
Peggy Callahan
Heavenly Days
1944Movie
Angie
Goin' to Town
1944Movie
Patty
The Falcon Out West
1944Movie
Marion Colby
Prunes and Politics
1944Movie
Miss Barlow
Higher and Higher
1943Movie
Katherine
Around the World
1943Movie
Barbara Hale
Government Girl
1943Movie
Girl in Hotel Lobby (uncredited)
The Iron Major
1943Movie
Sarah Cavanaugh
The Seventh Victim
1943Movie
Subway Passenger (Uncredited)
Gildersleeve's Bad Day
1943Movie
Girl seeking donations from Gildersleeve