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).
75 movies · 16 shows
Perry Mason: The Case of the Jealous Jokester
1995·7.4
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
1994·6.4
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle
1994·7.5
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
1993·6.9
Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss
1993·7.5
Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host
1993·7.2
Perry Mason: The Case of the Skin-Deep Scandal
1993·7.2
Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride
1992·7.8
Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo
1992·7.2
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing
1992·6.9
Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion
1991·7.3
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
1991·7.3
Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster
1991·6.7
Perry Mason: The Case of the Ruthless Reporter
1991·6.5
Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter
1990·7.1
Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer
1990·7.5
Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception
1990·6.8
Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen
1990·7.1
Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin
1989·6.6
Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder
1989·6.5
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson
1989·7.0
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
1988·6.9
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
1988·7.1
Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel
1987·7.4
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
1987·6.8
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit
1987·7.6
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love
1987·7.5
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star
1986·7.2
Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun
1986·7.1
Perry Mason Returns
1985·7.2
The Young Runaways
1978·7.0
Big Wednesday
1978·6.9
The Flight of the Grey Wolf
1976·7.5
The Giant Spider Invasion
1975·4.1
Chester, Yesterday’s Horse
1973·0.0
The Red, White, and Black
1970·10.0
Airport
1970·6.5
Buckskin
1968·5.5
Desert Hell
1958·9.0
Slim Carter
1957·8.0
The Oklahoman
1957·5.8
7th Cavalry
1956·6.1
The Country Husband
1956·0.0
The Houston Story
1956·6.0
Meet the Governor
1955·6.0
Unchained
1955·7.0
The Far Horizons
1955·6.3
A Lion Is in the Streets
1953·5.4
The Lone Hand
1953·5.7
Seminole
1953·5.6
Last of the Comanches
1953·6.2
The First Time
1952·7.5
Lorna Doone
1951·4.7
Emergency Wedding
1950·6.0
The Jackpot
1950·7.0
And Baby Makes Three
1949·5.1
Jolson Sings Again
1949·6.4
The Window
1949·7.0
The Clay Pigeon
1949·5.7
The Boy with Green Hair
1948·6.2
A Likely Story
1947·4.8
Lady Luck
1946·5.6
First Yank into Tokyo
1945·6.0
West of the Pecos
1945·4.6
The Falcon in Hollywood
1944·6.2
Heavenly Days
1944·8.0
Goin' to Town
1944·9.0
The Falcon Out West
1944·5.3
Prunes and Politics
1944·7.5
Higher and Higher
1943·6.3
Around the World
1943·6.3
Government Girl
1943·5.7
The Iron Major
1943·5.7
The Seventh Victim
1943·6.5
Gildersleeve's Bad Day
1943·6.6