Barbara Hale is 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 later reprising the role 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).
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester | Della Street | 1995-04-10 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle | Della Street | 1994-05-10 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor | Della Street | 1994-11-09 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal | Della Street | 1993-02-19 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host | Della Street | 1993-05-21 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives | Della Street | 1993-12-17 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss | Della Street | 1993-11-29 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo | Della Street | 1992-05-05 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing | Della Street | 1992-03-01 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride | Della Street | 1992-10-30 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster | Della Street | 1991-02-11 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter | Della Street | 1991-01-06 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin | Della Street | 1991-05-14 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion | Della Street | 1991-09-24 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception | Della Street | 1990-03-11 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen | Della Street | 1990-01-21 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer | Della Street | 1990-05-20 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter | Della Street | 1990-09-30 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson | Della Street | 1989-02-12 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin | Della Street | 1989-11-09 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder | Della Street | 1989-04-09 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace | Della Street | 1988-02-28 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake | Della Street | 1988-05-15 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love | Della Street | 1987-02-23 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit | Della Street | 1987-05-24 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel | Della Street | 1987-11-15 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam | Della Street | 1987-10-04 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun | Della Street | 1986-05-29 |
Movie | Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star | Della Street | 1986-11-08 |
Movie | Perry Mason Returns | Della Street | 1985-12-01 |
Movie | Big Wednesday | Mrs. Barlow | 1978-05-26 |
Movie | The Young Runaways | Mrs. Ogle | 1978-05-28 |
Movie | The Giant Spider Invasion | Dr. Jenny Langer | 1975-10-01 |
Movie | The Red, White, and Black | Mrs. Alice Grierson | 1970-12-16 |
Movie | Airport | Sarah Demerest | 1970-03-25 |
Series | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Unknown | 1969-09-23 |
Movie | Buckskin | Sarah Cody | 1968-05-01 |
Movie | Desert Hell | Celie Edwards | 1958-06-25 |
Movie | Slim Carter | Allie Hanneman | 1957-11-01 |
Movie | The Oklahoman | Anne | 1957-05-19 |
Series | Perry Mason | Della Street | 1957-09-21 |
Movie | The Houston Story | Zoe Crane | 1956-02-01 |
Movie | 7th Cavalry | Martha Kellogg | 1956-12-01 |
Series | The Millionaire | Unknown | 1955-01-19 |
Movie | The Far Horizons | Julia Hancock | 1955-07-04 |
Movie | Unchained | Mary Davitt | 1955-08-25 |
Series | Lassie | Unknown | 1954-09-12 |
Series | Climax! | Unknown | 1954-10-07 |
Movie | Last of the Comanches | Julia Lanning | 1953-02-01 |
Series | General Electric Theater | Unknown | 1953-02-01 |
Movie | Seminole | Revere | 1953-03-20 |
Movie | A Lion Is in the Streets | Verity Wade | 1953-09-23 |
Series | Letter to Loretta | Unknown | 1953-09-20 |
Movie | The Lone Hand | Sarah Jane Skaggs | 1953-05-20 |
Movie | The First Time | Betsey Bennett | 1952-01-31 |
Movie | Lorna Doone | Lorna Doone | 1951-05-31 |
Movie | The Jackpot | Amy Lawrence | 1950-11-01 |
Movie | Emergency Wedding | Dr. Helen Hunt | 1950-11-15 |
Movie | And Baby Makes Three | Jacqueline 'Jackie' Walsh | 1949-12-02 |
Movie | The Window | Mary Woodry | 1949-05-10 |
Movie | The Clay Pigeon | Martha Gregory | 1949-03-03 |
Movie | Jolson Sings Again | Ellen Clark | 1949-08-17 |
Movie | The Boy with Green Hair | Miss Brand | 1948-11-26 |
Movie | A Likely Story | Vicki | 1947-04-18 |
Movie | Lady Luck | Mary Audrey | 1946-10-30 |
Movie | West of the Pecos | Rill Lambeth | 1945-08-10 |
Movie | First Yank into Tokyo | Abby Drake | 1945-09-05 |
Movie | Heavenly Days | Angie | 1944-10-20 |
Movie | The Falcon Out West | Marion Colby | 1944-03-17 |
Movie | The Falcon in Hollywood | Peggy Callahan | 1944-12-08 |
Movie | The Seventh Victim | Subway Passenger (Uncredited) | 1943-08-21 |
Movie | Gildersleeve's Bad Day | Girl seeking donations from Gildersleeve | 1943-05-10 |
Movie | The Iron Major | Sarah Cavanaugh | 1943-10-31 |
Movie | Higher and Higher | Katherine | 1943-12-31 |
Movie | Around the World | Barbara Hale | 1943-11-27 |
Movie | Government Girl | Girl in Hotel Lobby (uncredited) | 1943-11-05 |