
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).
Filmografi
The Oklahoman1957 · Anne
Airport1970 · Sarah Demerest
Lorna Doone1951 · Lorna Doone
Buckskin1968 · Sarah Cody
Lady Luck1946 · Mary Audrey
West of the Pecos1945 · Rill Lambeth
Big Wednesday1978 · Mrs. Barlow
The Giant Spider Invasion1975 · Dr. Jenny Langer
Government Girl1943 · Girl in Hotel Lobby (uncredited)
The Iron Major1943 · Sarah Cavanaugh
The Young Runaways1978 · Mrs. Ogle
The Far Horizons1955 · Julia Hancock
Prunes and Politics1944 · Miss Barlow
The Boy with Green Hair1948 · Miss Brand
Last of the Comanches1953 · Julia Lanning
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception1990 · Della Street
The Seventh Victim1943 · Subway Passenger (Uncredited)
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake1988 · Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin1989 · Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion1991 · Della Street
The Flight of the Grey Wolf1976 · Mrs Hanson
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter1991 · Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo1992 · Della Street
The Falcon in Hollywood1944 · Peggy Callahan
Bill Williams
Maureen Stapleton
Jacqueline Bisset
Marion Ross
Jean Seberg
John Dehner
Gary Collins
William H. O'Brien
Anthony Caruso
Robert Mitchum
Lon Chaney Jr.
Burt Lancaster