Barbara Hale
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- April 18, 1922
- Died
- January 26, 2017 (aged 94)
- Birthplace
- DeKalb, Illinois, USA
Biography
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
Photos
Filmography
Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason Returns
Movie · as Della Street
Perry Mason Returns
TV · as Della Street · 30 eps
The Young Runaways
Movie · as Mrs. Ogle
Big Wednesday
Movie · as Mrs. Barlow
The Flight of the Grey Wolf
Movie · as Mrs Hanson
The Giant Spider Invasion
Movie · as Dr. Jenny Langer
Dinah!
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Chester, Yesterday’s Horse
Movie · as Mrs. Belle Kincaid
Airport
Movie · as Sarah Demerest
The Red, White, and Black
Movie · as Mrs. Alice Grierson
Marcus Welby, M.D.
TV · as Marjorie Brandon · 1 ep
Buckskin
Movie · as Sarah Cody
Adam-12
TV · as Bonnie Jessup · 1 ep
The Doris Day Show
TV · as Thelma King · 1 ep
Desert Hell
Movie · as Celie Edwards
The Oklahoman
Movie · as Anne
Slim Carter
Movie · as Allie Hanneman
Perry Mason
TV · as Della Street · 271 eps
The Houston Story
Movie · as Zoe Crane
7th Cavalry
Movie · as Martha Kellogg
The Country Husband
Movie · as Mrs. Julia Wiley
The Far Horizons
Movie · as Julia Hancock
Meet the Governor
Movie · as June Waters
Unchained
Movie · as Mary Davitt
The Millionaire
TV · as Kathy Munson / Marian Munson · 1 ep
Screen Director's Playhouse
TV · as June Waters · 1 ep
Lassie
TV · 1 ep
Climax!
TV · as Mamie Eunson · 1 ep
The Wonderful World of Disney
TV · as Mrs. Ogle · 1 ep
Studio 57
TV · as Ruth · 1 ep
Last of the Comanches
Movie · as Julia Lanning
Seminole
Movie · as Revere
A Lion Is in the Streets
Movie · as Verity Wade Martin
The Lone Hand
Movie · as Sarah Jane Skaggs
General Electric Theater
TV · as Ellen Newman, Lorraine · 1 ep
Letter to Loretta
TV · as Mrs. Strawn · 1 ep
The First Time
Movie · as Betsey Bennett
The Ford Television Theatre
TV · as Marta Linden, Katherine Charles, Nora White · 1 ep
Lorna Doone
Movie · as Lorna Doone
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV · as Ginny Morgan · 1 ep
The Jackpot
Movie · as Amy Lawrence
Emergency Wedding
Movie · as Dr. Helen Hunt
The Window
Movie · as Mary Woodry
The Clay Pigeon
Movie · as Martha Gregory
Jolson Sings Again
Movie · as Ellen Clark
And Baby Makes Three
Movie · as Jacqueline 'Jackie' Walsh
The Boy with Green Hair
Movie · as Miss Brand
A Likely Story
Movie · as Vicki
Lady Luck
Movie · as Mary Audrey
First Yank into Tokyo
Movie · as Abby Drake
West of the Pecos
Movie · as Rill Lambeth
The Falcon in Hollywood
Movie · as Peggy Callahan
The Falcon Out West
Movie · as Marion Colby
Heavenly Days
Movie · as Angie
Prunes and Politics
Movie · as Miss Barlow
Goin' to Town
Movie · as Patty
Higher and Higher
Movie · as Katherine
The Iron Major
Movie · as Sarah Cavanaugh
Government Girl
Movie · as Girl in Hotel Lobby (uncredited)
Gildersleeve's Bad Day
Movie · as Girl seeking donations from Gildersleeve
Around the World
Movie · as Barbara Hale
The Seventh Victim
Movie · as Subway Passenger (Uncredited)