Acting · DeKalb, Illinois, USA · Born April 18, 1922
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).
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester
1995
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
1994
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle
1994
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
1993
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss
1993
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host
1993
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal
1993
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride
1992
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo
1992
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing
1992
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion
1991
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
1991
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster
1991
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter
1991
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter
1990
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer
1990
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception
1990
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen
1990
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin
1989
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder
1989
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson
1989
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
1988
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
1988
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
1987
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
1987
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit
1987
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love
1987
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star
1986
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun
1986
as Della Street
MoviePerry Mason Returns
1985
as Della Street
TVPerry Mason Returns
1985
as Della Street
MovieThe Young Runaways
1978
as Mrs. Ogle
MovieBig Wednesday
1978
as Mrs. Barlow
MovieThe Flight of the Grey Wolf
1976
as Mrs Hanson
MovieThe Giant Spider Invasion
1975
as Dr. Jenny Langer
TVDinah!
1974
as Self
MovieChester, Yesterday’s Horse
1973
as Mrs. Belle Kincaid
MovieThe Red, White, and Black
1970
as Mrs. Alice Grierson
MovieAirport
1970
as Sarah Demerest
TVMarcus Welby, M.D.
1969
as Marjorie Brandon
TVThe Doris Day Show
1968
as Thelma King
TVAdam-12
1968
as Bonnie Jessup
MovieBuckskin
1968
as Sarah Cody
MovieDesert Hell
1958
as Celie Edwards
MovieSlim Carter
1957
as Allie Hanneman
TVPerry Mason
1957
as Della Street
MovieThe Oklahoman
1957
as Anne
Movie7th Cavalry
1956
as Martha Kellogg
MovieThe Country Husband
1956
as Mrs. Julia Wiley
MovieThe Houston Story
1956
as Zoe Crane
Meet the Governor
1955
as June Waters
TVScreen Director's Playhouse
1955
as June Waters
MovieUnchained
1955
as Mary Davitt
MovieThe Far Horizons
1955
as Julia Hancock
TVThe Millionaire
1955
as Kathy Munson / Marian Munson
TVThe Wonderful World of Disney
1954
as Mrs. Ogle
TVClimax!
1954
as Mamie Eunson
TVStudio 57
1954
as Ruth
TVLassie
1954
MovieA Lion Is in the Streets
1953
as Verity Wade Martin
TVLetter to Loretta
1953
as Mrs. Strawn
MovieThe Lone Hand
1953
as Sarah Jane Skaggs
MovieSeminole
1953
as Revere
MovieLast of the Comanches
1953
as Julia Lanning
TVGeneral Electric Theater
1953
as Ellen Newman
TVThe Ford Television Theatre
1952
as Marta Linden
MovieThe First Time
1952
as Betsey Bennett
TVSchlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
as Ginny Morgan
MovieLorna Doone
1951
as Lorna Doone
MovieEmergency Wedding
1950
as Dr. Helen Hunt
MovieThe Jackpot
1950
as Amy Lawrence
MovieAnd Baby Makes Three
1949
as Jacqueline 'Jackie' Walsh
MovieJolson Sings Again
1949
as Ellen Clark
MovieThe Window
1949
as Mary Woodry
MovieThe Clay Pigeon
1949
as Martha Gregory
MovieThe Boy with Green Hair
1948
as Miss Brand
MovieA Likely Story
1947
as Vicki
MovieLady Luck
1946
as Mary Audrey
MovieFirst Yank into Tokyo
1945
as Abby Drake
MovieWest of the Pecos
1945
as Rill Lambeth
MovieThe Falcon in Hollywood
1944
as Peggy Callahan
MovieHeavenly Days
1944
as Angie
MovieGoin' to Town
1944
as Patty
MovieThe Falcon Out West
1944
as Marion Colby
MoviePrunes and Politics
1944
as Miss Barlow
MovieHigher and Higher
1943
as Katherine
MovieAround the World
1943
as Barbara Hale
MovieGovernment Girl
1943
as Girl in Hotel Lobby (uncredited)
MovieThe Iron Major
1943
as Sarah Cavanaugh
MovieThe Seventh Victim
1943
as Subway Passenger (Uncredited)
MovieGildersleeve's Bad Day
1943
as Girl seeking donations from Gildersleeve
