Barbara Hale
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).
Filmography (91 Appearances)
Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss
Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host
Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter
Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter
Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception
Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star
Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun
Perry Mason Returns
Perry Mason Returns
The Young Runaways
Big Wednesday
The Flight of the Grey Wolf
The Giant Spider Invasion
Dinah!
Chester, Yesterday’s Horse
The Red, White, and Black
Airport
Marcus Welby, M.D.
The Doris Day Show
Adam-12
Buckskin
Desert Hell
Slim Carter
Perry Mason
The Oklahoman
7th Cavalry
The Country Husband
The Houston Story
Meet the Governor
Screen Director's Playhouse
Unchained
The Far Horizons
The Millionaire
The Wonderful World of Disney
Climax!
Studio 57
Lassie
A Lion Is in the Streets
Letter to Loretta
The Lone Hand
Seminole
General Electric Theater
Last of the Comanches
The Ford Television Theatre
The First Time
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Lorna Doone
Emergency Wedding
The Jackpot
And Baby Makes Three
Jolson Sings Again
The Window
The Clay Pigeon
The Boy with Green Hair
A Likely Story
Lady Luck
First Yank into Tokyo
West of the Pecos
The Falcon in Hollywood
Heavenly Days
Goin' to Town
The Falcon Out West
Prunes and Politics
Higher and Higher
Around the World
Government Girl
The Iron Major
The Seventh Victim
Gildersleeve's Bad Day