Barbara Hale
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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
Credits
Airport (1970)
as Sarah Demerest
Big Wednesday (1978)
as Mrs. Barlow
The Oklahoman (1957)
as Anne
The Far Horizons (1955)
as Julia Hancock
Buckskin (1968)
as Sarah Cody
Perry Mason Returns (1985)
as Della Street
Government Girl (1943)
as Girl in Hotel Lobby (uncredited)
Last of the Comanches (1953)
as Julia Lanning
Lorna Doone (1951)
as Lorna Doone
The Seventh Victim (1943)
as Subway Passenger (Uncredited)
The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)
as Dr. Jenny Langer
Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal (1993)
as Della Street
West of the Pecos (1945)
as Rill Lambeth
The Flight of the Grey Wolf (1976)
as Mrs Hanson
Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss (1993)
as Della Street
Lady Luck (1946)
as Mary Audrey
A Lion Is in the Streets (1953)
as Verity Wade Martin
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo (1992)
as Della Street
First Yank into Tokyo (1945)
as Abby Drake
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing (1992)
as Della Street
The Houston Story (1956)
as Zoe Crane
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter (1991)
as Della Street
The Boy with Green Hair (1948)
as Miss Brand
The Young Runaways (1978)
as Mrs. Ogle
Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster (1991)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin (1991)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel (1987)
as Della Street
7th Cavalry (1956)
as Martha Kellogg
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride (1992)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer (1990)
as Della Street
The Jackpot (1950)
as Amy Lawrence
The Window (1949)
as Mary Woodry
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake (1988)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives (1993)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin (1989)
as Della Street
The Clay Pigeon (1949)
as Martha Gregory
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit (1987)
as Della Street
The Iron Major (1943)
as Sarah Cavanaugh
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion (1991)
as Della Street
Emergency Wedding (1950)
as Dr. Helen Hunt
And Baby Makes Three (1949)
as Jacqueline 'Jackie' Walsh
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace (1988)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun (1986)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder (1989)
as Della Street
Higher and Higher (1943)
as Katherine
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam (1987)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception (1990)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989)
as Della Street
The Lone Hand (1953)
as Sarah Jane Skaggs
Heavenly Days (1944)
as Angie
Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter (1990)
as Della Street
Around the World (1943)
as Barbara Hale
Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host (1993)
as Della Street
Jolson Sings Again (1949)
as Ellen Clark
Seminole (1953)
as Revere
Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943)
as Girl seeking donations from Gildersleeve
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor (1994)
as Della Street
Chester, Yesterday’s Horse (1973)
as Mrs. Belle Kincaid
The Falcon Out West (1944)
as Marion Colby
The Red, White, and Black (1970)
as Mrs. Alice Grierson
The Country Husband (1956)
as Mrs. Julia Wiley
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle (1994)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star (1986)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen (1990)
as Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love (1987)
as Della Street
The First Time (1952)
as Betsey Bennett
Unchained (1955)
as Mary Davitt
Prunes and Politics (1944)
as Miss Barlow
Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester (1995)
as Della Street
Desert Hell (1958)
as Celie Edwards
A Likely Story (1947)
as Vicki
Meet the Governor (1955)
as June Waters
The Falcon in Hollywood (1944)
as Peggy Callahan
Goin' to Town (1944)
as Patty
Slim Carter (1957)
as Allie Hanneman