Barbara Hale

Acting · 2.3 popularity

Age

104

Movies

Born: April 18, 1922 – January 26, 2017
From: DeKalb, Illinois, USA
Website: Visit site

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).

Works

75 films

Airport

19706.5

Big Wednesday

19786.9

The Oklahoman

19575.8

The Seventh Victim

19436.5

The Far Horizons

19556.3

The Giant Spider Invasion

19754.1

7th Cavalry

19566.1

The Window

19497.0

The Boy with Green Hair

19486.2

Government Girl

19435.7

Seminole

19535.6

Perry Mason Returns

19857.2

Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer

19907.5

Lady Luck

19465.6

Last of the Comanches

19536.2

The Young Runaways

19787.0

The Jackpot

19507.0

A Lion Is in the Streets

19535.4

Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star

19867.2

Buckskin

19685.5

Lorna Doone

19514.7

Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss

19937.5

The Clay Pigeon

19495.7

Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion

19917.3

West of the Pecos

19454.6

Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo

19927.2

Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin

19917.3

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson

19897.0

And Baby Makes Three

19495.1

Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter

19916.5

The Falcon in Hollywood

19446.2

Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel

19877.4

Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing

19926.9

Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal

19937.2

Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace

19887.1

Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam

19876.8

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle

19947.5

Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester

19957.4

Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor

19946.4

Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder

19896.5

The Lone Hand

19535.7

The Iron Major

19435.7

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake

19886.9

Prunes and Politics

19447.5

Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun

19867.1

Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin

19896.6

A Likely Story

19474.8

Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter

19907.1

Slim Carter

19578.0

Higher and Higher

19436.3

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love

19877.5

Unchained

19557.0

Around the World

19436.3

Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception

19906.8

Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride

19927.8

Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster

19916.7

The First Time

19527.5

The Flight of the Grey Wolf

19767.5

Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit

19877.6

First Yank into Tokyo

19456.0

Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives

19936.9

Gildersleeve's Bad Day

19436.6

Desert Hell

19589.0

Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen

19907.1

Emergency Wedding

19506.0

The Country Husband

1956

The Red, White, and Black

197010.0

Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host

19937.2

The Houston Story

19566.0

The Falcon Out West

19445.3

Chester, Yesterday’s Horse

1973

Jolson Sings Again

19496.4

Goin' to Town

19449.0

Heavenly Days

19448.0

Meet the Governor

19556.0