94
Age
75
Movies
19
TV Shows
7.5
Rating
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.
94
Died at
75
Movies
19
TV Shows
7.5
Avg Rating
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.
1968
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).
Gender
Female
Birthday
April 18, 1922
Died
January 26, 2017
Birthplace
DeKalb, Illinois, USA
Also Known As
Big Wednesday
1978
Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter
1990
The Oklahoman
1957
Airport
1970
Government Girl
1943
Lady Luck
1946
Perry Mason Returns
1985
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
1988
The Far Horizons
1955
The Seventh Victim
1943
Lorna Doone
1951
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson
1989
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin
1989
The Giant Spider Invasion
1975
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion
1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
1994
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
1993
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
1987
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
1991
A Likely Story
1947
+ 55 more movies
Perry Mason
1957
Lassie
1954
Adam-12
1968
Climax!
1954
Marcus Welby, M.D.
1969
Dinah!
1974
The Millionaire
1955
The Ford Television Theatre
1952
The Ford Television Theatre
1952
Studio 57
1954
The Doris Day Show
1968
Screen Director's Playhouse
1955
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954
Letter to Loretta
1953
General Electric Theater
1953
General Electric Theater
1953
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Perry Mason Returns
1985