Barbara Hale
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).
Acting (74 movies)
Airport
1970
The Window
1949
The Houston Story
1956
Last of the Comanches
1953
The Clay Pigeon
1949
7th Cavalry
1956
Jolson Sings Again
1949
Higher and Higher
1943
The Boy with Green Hair
1948
The Falcon in Hollywood
1944
The Falcon Out West
1944
Seminole
1953
Chester, Yesterday’s Horse
1973
The Giant Spider Invasion
1975
Perry Mason Returns
1985
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter
1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
1993
Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer
1990
The Far Horizons
1955
Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss
1993
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride
1992
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo
1992
Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster
1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal
1993
First Yank into Tokyo
1945
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
1987
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit
1987
The Oklahoman
1957
A Lion Is in the Streets
1953
West of the Pecos
1945
The Jackpot
1950
The Red, White, and Black
1970
Buckskin
1968
And Baby Makes Three
1949
The Lone Hand
1953
Lorna Doone
1951
The First Time
1952
Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host
1993
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
1994
Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester
1995
Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun
1986
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love
1987
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star
1986
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
1988
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
1987
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder
1989
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson
1989
Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen
1990
Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter
1990
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin
1989
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception
1990
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle
1994
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
1988
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion
1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing
1992
Lady Luck
1946
Heavenly Days
1944
Emergency Wedding
1950
Slim Carter
1957
A Likely Story
1947
Unchained
1955
The Iron Major
1943
Government Girl
1943
Desert Hell
1958
Prunes and Politics
1944
Gildersleeve's Bad Day
1943
Around the World
1943
Goin' to Town
1944
The Young Runaways
1978
The Seventh Victim
1943
Big Wednesday
1978
The Flight of the Grey Wolf
1976
The Country Husband
1956
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