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.
Acted in 105
1950s
- 1959
The Sound and the Fury
Mrs. Maud Mansfield
- 1958
- 1957
- 1955
Betrayed Women
Head Matron Ballard
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
Birdie Hicks
- 1954
- 1953
A Tale of Two Cities
Pross
- 1952
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Birdie Hicks
- 1951
Too Young to Kiss
Mrs. Boykin
- 1950
Surrender
Aunt May
No Man of Her Own
Josie
1940s
- 1949
Ma and Pa Kettle
Mrs. Birdie Hicks
- 1948
- 1947
The Unfinished Dance
Olga
The Egg and I
Birdie Hicks
- 1946
Margie
Grandma McSweeney
Smoky
Mrs. Richards
A Stolen Life
Mrs. Johnson
- 1945
Behind City Lights
Sarah Lowell
On Stage Everybody
Ma Cassidy
Bedside Manner
Martha Gravitt
- 1943
Swing Your Partner
Caroline Bird, aka Anna Robbins
Murder in Times Square
Longacre Lil
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Movie
- 1942
Wrecking Crew
Mike O'Glendy
A Letter From Bataan
Mrs. Jackson
Ten Gentlemen from West Point
Mrs. Thompson
Maisie Gets Her Man
Mrs. McIntyre (Uncredited)
You're Telling Me
Aunt Fannie Handley
What's Cookin'?
Mrs. Murphy (uncredited)
Blondie Goes to College
Mrs. Carrie Dill, the Landlady
- 1941
Dangerously They Live
Dawson, Goodwin's Housekeeper
All-American Co-Ed
Aunt Matilda Collinge
Aloma of the South Seas
Tarusa
Unfinished Business
Aunt Mathilda
Back Street
Mrs. Smith
- 1940
Arise, My Love
Susie
Blondie Has Servant Trouble
Anna Vaughn
Untamed
Mrs. Smith
Cross-Country Romance
Mrs. McGillicuddy
Opened by Mistake
Mrs. Anthony DeBorest
Forty Little Mothers
Mrs. Mason the Landlady
And One Was Beautiful
Margaret
Women Without Names
Head Matron Ingles
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Lincoln's Cook (uncredited)
Convicted Woman
Chief Matron Brackett
Village Barn Dance
Minerva Withers
Laddie
Sarah, the Housekeeper
1930s
- 1939
Swanee River
Temperance Woman
A Child is Born
Prison Matron (uncredited)
Bad Little Angel
Miss Brown, Orphanage Secretary (uncredited)
Blackmail
Sarah
Tell No Tales
Mrs. Haskins
6,000 Enemies
Prison Matron
Big Town Czar
Ma Daley
Broadway Serenade
Mrs. Olsen, the Landlady
Sergeant Madden
Mrs. McGillivray
How to Sub-Let
Mrs. Mustavas
The Great Man Votes
Mrs. Markham
- 1938
Girls on Probation
Mrs. Engstrom
Prison Farm
Cora Waxley
Stolen Heaven
Lieschen
Condemned Women
Mrs. Clara Glover, Head Matron
- 1937
On Such a Night
Miss Belinda Fentridge
Wild Money
Jenny Hawkins
Damaged Goods
Mrs. Dupont
Outcast
Hattie Simmerson
- 1936
Hollywood Boulevard
Martha
Fury
Mrs. Whipple
The Case Against Mrs. Ames
Matilda
The Farmer in the Dell
Ma Boyer
Lady of Secrets
Miss Eccles
Timothy's Quest
Hitty Tarbox
- 1935
The Great Impersonation
Mrs. Unthank
I Dream Too Much
Mrs. Dilley (uncredited)
In Old Kentucky
Dolly Breckenridge
Mary Burns, Fugitive
Kate
I Live My Life
Brumbaugh, Mrs. Gage's Housekeeper
Private Worlds
Matron
The Wedding Night
Mrs. Kaise Novak
- 1934
Crime Without Passion
Miss Keeley (uncredited)
