Esther Dale

Born: 1885-11-10 in Beaufort, South Carolina, USA

Died: 1961-07-23

Known For: Acting

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.

Filmography

1960

Thriller as Ellen the Maid
North to Alaska as Woman at Picnic

1959

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
Lock-Up
The Sound and the Fury as Mrs. Maud Mansfield

1958

The Donna Reed Show

1957

Maverick as Ma Braus
M Squad as Julia Sheldon
The Oklahoman as Mrs. Fitzgerald

1955

Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki as Birdie Hicks
Betrayed Women as Head Matron Ballard

1950

No Man of Her Own as Josie
Walk Softly, Stranger as Miss Thompson
Surrender as Aunt May

1949

Holiday Affair as Mrs. Ennis
Ma and Pa Kettle as Mrs. Birdie Hicks

1948

A Song Is Born as Miss Bragg

1947

The Egg and I as Birdie Hicks
The Unfinished Dance as Olga

1946

Margie as Grandma McSweeney
My Reputation as Anna
A Stolen Life as Mrs. Johnson
Smoky as Mrs. 'Gram' Richards

1945

Bedside Manner as Martha Gravitt
On Stage Everybody as Ma Cassidy
Behind City Lights as Sarah Lowell

1943

The North Star as Anna Kurin
Old Acquaintance as Harriet
Swing Your Partner as Caroline Bird, aka Anna Robbins
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Murder in Times Square as Longacre Lil

1942

Ten Gentlemen from West Point as Mrs. Thompson
Blondie Goes to College as Mrs. Carrie Dill, the Landlady
A Letter From Bataan as Mrs. Jackson
Maisie Gets Her Man as Mrs. McIntyre (Uncredited)
What's Cookin'? as Mrs. Murphy (uncredited)
Wrecking Crew as Mike O'Glendy
You're Telling Me as Aunt Fannie Handley

1941

Mr. & Mrs. Smith as Mrs. Krausheimer
Back Street as Mrs. Smith
Unfinished Business as Aunt Mathilda
Dangerously They Live as Dawson, Goodwin's Housekeeper
Aloma of the South Seas as Tarusa
All-American Co-Ed as Aunt Matilda Collinge

1940

The Mortal Storm as Marta
Convicted Woman as Chief Matron Brackett
Untamed as Mrs. Smith
Abe Lincoln in Illinois as Lincoln's Cook (uncredited)
Forty Little Mothers as Mrs. Mason the Landlady
Arise, My Love as Susie
And One Was Beautiful as Margaret
Village Barn Dance as Minerva Withers
Cross-Country Romance as Mrs. McGillicuddy
Laddie as Sarah, the Housekeeper
Blondie Has Servant Trouble as Anna Vaughn
Women Without Names as Head Matron Ingles
Opened by Mistake as Mrs. Anthony DeBorest

1939

The Women as Ingrid (uncredited)
Blackmail as Sarah
Made for Each Other as Annie (uncredited)
Broadway Serenade as Mrs. Olsen, the Landlady
Swanee River as Temperance Woman
A Child is Born as Prison Matron (uncredited)
Tell No Tales as Mrs. Haskins
The Great Man Votes as Mrs. Markham
Bad Little Angel as Miss Brown, Orphanage Secretary (uncredited)
6,000 Enemies as Prison Matron
Sergeant Madden as Mrs. McGillivray
Big Town Czar as Ma Daley
How to Sub-Let as Mrs. Mustavas

1938

Girls on Probation as Mrs. Engstrom
Prison Farm as Cora Waxley
Condemned Women as Mrs. Clara Glover, Head Matron
Stolen Heaven as Lieschen

1937

Dead End as Mrs. Fenner
The Awful Truth as Mrs. Leeson
Easy Living as Lillian
On Such a Night as Miss Belinda Fentridge
Outcast as Hattie Simmerson
Wild Money as Jenny Hawkins
Damaged Goods as Mrs. Dupont

1936

Fury as Mrs. Whipple
Hollywood Boulevard as Martha
The Case Against Mrs. Ames as Matilda
Timothy's Quest as Hitty Tarbox
Lady of Secrets as Miss Eccles
The Farmer in the Dell as Ma Boyer

1935

Curly Top as Genevieve Graham
I Live My Life as Brumbaugh, Mrs. Gage's Housekeeper
Private Worlds as Matron
I Dream Too Much as Mrs. Dilley (uncredited)
The Wedding Night as Mrs. Kaise Novak
The Great Impersonation as Mrs. Unthank
Mary Burns, Fugitive as Kate
In Old Kentucky as Dolly Breckenridge

1934

Crime Without Passion as Miss Keeley (uncredited)