Barbara Hale
Known for: Acting
Born: April 17, 1922 in DeKalb, Illinois, USA - Died: January 25, 2017
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
Showing 24 of 91 titles
Airport
Sarah Demerest
The Window
Mary Woodry
The Houston Story
Zoe Crane
Last of the Comanches
Julia Lanning
The Clay Pigeon
Martha Gregory
7th Cavalry
Martha Kellogg
Jolson Sings Again
Ellen Clark
Higher and Higher
Katherine
The Boy with Green Hair
Miss Brand
The Falcon in Hollywood
Peggy Callahan
The Falcon Out West
Marion Colby
Seminole
Revere
Chester, Yesterday’s Horse
Mrs. Belle Kincaid
The Giant Spider Invasion
Dr. Jenny Langer
Perry Mason Returns
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer
Della Street
The Far Horizons
Julia Hancock
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo
Della Street
Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster
Della Street