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Barbara Hale
DeKalb, Illinois, USA
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 Perr…
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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).
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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1995
Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester
Movie Della Street
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1994
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
Movie Della Street
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1994
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle
Movie Della Street
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1993
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
Movie Della Street
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1993
Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss
Movie Della Street
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1993
Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host
Movie Della Street
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1993
Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal
Movie Della Street
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1992
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride
Movie Della Street
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1992
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo
Movie Della Street
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1992
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing
Movie Della Street
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1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion
Movie Della Street
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1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
Movie Della Street
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1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster
Movie Della Street
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1991
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter
Movie Della Street
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1990
Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter
Movie Della Street
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1990
Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer
Movie Della Street
More credits
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1990
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception
Movie Della Street
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1990
Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen
Movie Della Street
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1989
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin
Movie Della Street
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1989
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder
Movie Della Street
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1989
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson
Movie Della Street
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1988
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
Movie Della Street
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1988
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
Movie Della Street
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1987
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
Movie Della Street
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1987
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
Movie Della Street
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1987
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit
Movie Della Street
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1987
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love
Movie Della Street
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1986
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star
Movie Della Street
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1986
Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun
Movie Della Street
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1985
Perry Mason Returns
Movie Della Street
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1985
Perry Mason Returns
TV show Della Street
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1978
The Young Runaways
Movie Mrs. Ogle
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1978
Big Wednesday
Movie Mrs. Barlow
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1976
The Flight of the Grey Wolf
Movie Mrs Hanson
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1975
The Giant Spider Invasion
Movie Dr. Jenny Langer
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1974
Dinah!
TV show Self
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1973
Chester, Yesterday’s Horse
Movie Mrs. Belle Kincaid
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1970
The Red, White, and Black
Movie Mrs. Alice Grierson
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1970
Airport
Movie Sarah Demerest
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1969
Marcus Welby, M.D.
TV show Marjorie Brandon
