Personal Info
Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
November 10, 1885
Place of Birth:
Beaufort, South Carolina, USA
Social Media
Esther Dale
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Esther Dale (November 10, 1885 – July 23, 1961) was an American actress, best known perhaps for her role as Aunt Genevieve in the 1935 Shirley Temple vehicle, Curly Top.
On the stage, Dale starred in Carrie Nation on Broadway in 1933. Her other Broadway credits include Harvest of Years (1947), And Be My Love (1944), and Another Language (1932).
Dale's first film was Crime Without Passion (1934) in an uncredited role. She was a familiar face in films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, frequently playing stern, authoritarian characters such as prison matrons and head nurses, although she was equally adept at playing grande dames and ladies of the aristocracy.
Dale played many roles in television over the years. In the 1958-1959 season of The Donna Reed Show, Dale played a job-seeking housekeeper who is frightened from the Stone home by Jeff Stone's pet mouse, and she appeared in the 1957 Maverick episode "According to Hoyle" opposite James Garner.
Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | North to Alaska | Woman at Picnic |
| 1959 | The Sound and the Fury | Mrs. Maud Mansfield |
| 1957 | The Oklahoman | Mrs. Fitzgerald |
| 1955 | Betrayed Women | Head Matron Ballard |
| 1955 | Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki | Birdie Hicks |
| 1953 | A Tale of Two Cities | Pross |
| 1952 | Monkey Business | Mrs. Rhinelander |
| 1952 | Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair | Birdie Hicks |
| 1951 | Too Young to Kiss | Mrs. Boykin |
| 1951 | On Moonlight Bay | |
| 1950 | No Man of Her Own | Josie |
| 1950 | Walk Softly, Stranger | Miss Thompson |
| 1950 | Surrender | Aunt May |
| 1949 | Holiday Affair | Mrs. Ennis |
| 1949 | Ma and Pa Kettle | Mrs. Birdie Hicks |
| 1948 | A Song Is Born | Miss Bragg |
| 1947 | The Unfinished Dance | Olga |
| 1947 | The Egg and I | Birdie Hicks |
| 1946 | A Stolen Life | Mrs. Johnson |
| 1946 | My Reputation | Anna |
| 1946 | Margie | Grandma McSweeney |
| 1946 | Smoky | Mrs. 'Gram' Richards |
| 1945 | Her Favorite Patient | Martha Gravitt |
| 1945 | Behind City Lights | Sarah Lowell |
| 1945 | On Stage Everybody | Ma Cassidy |
| 1943 | The Amazing Mrs. Holliday | |
| 1943 | Murder in Times Square | Longacre Lil |
| 1943 | The North Star | Anna Kurin |
| 1943 | Old Acquaintance | Harriet |
| 1943 | Swing Your Partner | Caroline Bird, aka Anna Robbins |
| 1942 | Maisie Gets Her Man | Mrs. McIntyre (Uncredited) |
| 1942 | A Letter From Bataan | Mrs. Jackson |
| 1942 | What's Cookin'? | Mrs. Murphy (uncredited) |
| 1942 | Blondie Goes to College | Mrs. Carrie Dill, the Landlady |
| 1942 | Ten Gentlemen from West Point | Mrs. Thompson |
| 1942 | You're Telling Me | Aunt Fannie Handley |
| 1942 | Wrecking Crew | Mike O'Glendy |
| 1941 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | Mrs. Krausheimer |
| 1941 | Dangerously They Live | Dawson, Goodwin's Housekeeper |
| 1941 | All-American Co-Ed | Aunt Matilda Collinge |
| 1941 | Back Street | Mrs. Smith |
| 1941 | Aloma of the South Seas | Tarusa |
| 1941 | Unfinished Business | Aunt Mathilda |
| 1940 | The Mortal Storm | Marta |
| 1940 | Blondie Has Servant Trouble | Anna Vaughn |
| 1940 | Convicted Woman | Chief Matron Brackett |
| 1940 | And One Was Beautiful | Margaret |
| 1940 | Women Without Names | Head Matron Ingles |
| 1940 | Arise, My Love | Susie |
| 1940 | Laddie | Sarah, the Housekeeper |
| 1940 | Village Barn Dance | Minerva Withers |
| 1940 | Untamed | Mrs. Smith |
| 1940 | Abe Lincoln in Illinois | Lincoln's Cook (uncredited) |
| 1940 | Cross-Country Romance | Mrs. McGillicuddy |
| 1940 | Forty Little Mothers | Mrs. Mason the Landlady |
| 1940 | Opened by Mistake | Mrs. Anthony DeBorest |
| 1939 | Bad Little Angel | Miss Brown, Orphanage Secretary (uncredited) |
| 1939 | Blackmail | Sarah |
| 1939 | Broadway Serenade | Mrs. Olsen, the Landlady |
| 1939 | 6,000 Enemies | Prison Matron |
| 1939 | The Great Man Votes | Mrs. Markham |
| 1939 | Tell No Tales | Mrs. Haskins |
| 1939 | Made for Each Other | Annie (uncredited) |
| 1939 | A Child Is Born | Prison Matron (uncredited) |
| 1939 | The Women | Ingrid (uncredited) |
| 1939 | Swanee River | Temperance Woman |
| 1939 | Sergeant Madden | Mrs. McGillivray |
| 1939 | How to Sub-Let | Mrs. Mustavas |
| 1939 | Big Town Czar | Ma Daley |
| 1938 | Stolen Heaven | Lieschen |
| 1938 | Condemned Women | Mrs. Clara Glover, Head Matron |
| 1938 | Prison Farm | Cora Waxley |
| 1938 | Girls on Probation | Mrs. Engstrom |
| 1937 | Dead End | Mrs. Fenner |
| 1937 | The Awful Truth | Mrs. Leeson |
| 1937 | Easy Living | Lillian |
| 1937 | Damaged Goods | Mrs. Dupont |
| 1937 | On Such a Night | Miss Belinda Fentridge |
| 1937 | Wild Money | Jenny Hawkins |
| 1937 | Outcast | Hattie Simmerson |
| 1936 | The Case Against Mrs. Ames | Matilda |
| 1936 | Fury | Mrs. Whipple |
| 1936 | Timothy's Quest | Hitty Tarbox |
| 1936 | Hollywood Boulevard | Martha |
| 1936 | The Farmer in the Dell | Ma Boyer |
| 1936 | Lady of Secrets | Miss Eccles |
| 1935 | Curly Top | Genevieve Graham |
| 1935 | I Dream Too Much | Mrs. Dilley (uncredited) |
| 1935 | Private Worlds | Matron |
| 1935 | The Wedding Night | Mrs. Kaise Novak |
| 1935 | In Old Kentucky | Dolly Breckenridge |
| 1935 | I Live My Life | Brumbaugh, Mrs. Gage's Housekeeper |
| 1935 | Mary Burns, Fugitive | Kate |
| 1935 | The Great Impersonation | Mrs. Unthank |
| 1934 | Crime Without Passion | Miss Keeley (uncredited) |
| Year | TV Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Thriller | Ellen the Maid |
| 1959 | The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis | |
| 1959 | Lock-Up | |
| 1958 | The Donna Reed Show | |
| 1957 | M Squad | Julia Sheldon |
| 1957 | Maverick | Ma Braus |
| 1954 | December Bride | |
| 1952 | Cavalcade of America | Aunt Tabitha |
| 1952 | Mr. & Mrs. North | |
| 1952 | Four Star Playhouse | Mrs. Weston |