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

The Donna Reed Show

Maverick

Four Star Playhouse

Thriller

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

M Squad

Lock-Up

December Bride

All Movies (95)

• North to Alaska1960 · as Woman at Picnic
• The Sound and the Fury1959 · as Mrs. Maud Mansfield
• The Oklahoman1957 · as Mrs. Fitzgerald
• Betrayed Women1955 · as Head Matron Ballard
• Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki1955 · as Birdie Hicks
• A Tale of Two Cities1953 · as Pross
• Monkey Business1952 · as Mrs. Rhinelander
• Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair1952 · as Birdie Hicks
• Too Young to Kiss1951 · as Mrs. Boykin
• On Moonlight Bay1951
• Walk Softly, Stranger1950 · as Miss Thompson
• Surrender1950 · as Aunt May
• No Man of Her Own1950 · as Josie
• Holiday Affair1949 · as Mrs. Ennis
• Ma and Pa Kettle1949 · as Mrs. Birdie Hicks
• A Song Is Born1948 · as Miss Bragg
• The Unfinished Dance1947 · as Olga
• The Egg and I1947 · as Birdie Hicks
• Margie1946 · as Grandma McSweeney
• Smoky1946 · as Mrs. 'Gram' Richards
• A Stolen Life1946 · as Mrs. Johnson
• My Reputation1946 · as Anna
• Behind City Lights1945 · as Sarah Lowell
• On Stage Everybody1945 · as Ma Cassidy
• Bedside Manner1945 · as Martha Gravitt
• Old Acquaintance1943 · as Harriet
• The North Star1943 · as Anna Kurin
• Swing Your Partner1943 · as Caroline Bird, aka Anna Robbins
• Murder in Times Square1943 · as Longacre Lil
• The Amazing Mrs. Holliday1943
• Wrecking Crew1942 · as Mike O'Glendy
• A Letter From Bataan1942 · as Mrs. Jackson
• Ten Gentlemen from West Point1942 · as Mrs. Thompson
• Maisie Gets Her Man1942 · as Mrs. McIntyre (Uncredited)
• You're Telling Me1942 · as Aunt Fannie Handley
• What's Cookin'?1942 · as Mrs. Murphy (uncredited)
• Blondie Goes to College1942 · as Mrs. Carrie Dill, the Landlady
• Dangerously They Live1941 · as Dawson, Goodwin's Housekeeper
• All-American Co-Ed1941 · as Aunt Matilda Collinge
• Aloma of the South Seas1941 · as Tarusa
• Unfinished Business1941 · as Aunt Mathilda
• Back Street1941 · as Mrs. Smith
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith1941 · as Mrs. Krausheimer
• Arise, My Love1940 · as Susie
• Blondie Has Servant Trouble1940 · as Anna Vaughn
• Untamed1940 · as Mrs. Smith
• Cross-Country Romance1940 · as Mrs. McGillicuddy
• The Mortal Storm1940 · as Marta
• Opened by Mistake1940 · as Mrs. Anthony DeBorest
• Forty Little Mothers1940 · as Mrs. Mason the Landlady
• And One Was Beautiful1940 · as Margaret
• Women Without Names1940 · as Head Matron Ingles
• Abe Lincoln in Illinois1940 · as Lincoln's Cook (uncredited)
• Convicted Woman1940 · as Chief Matron Brackett
• Village Barn Dance1940 · as Minerva Withers
• Laddie1940 · as Sarah, the Housekeeper
• Swanee River1939 · as Temperance Woman
• A Child is Born1939 · as Prison Matron (uncredited)
• Bad Little Angel1939 · as Miss Brown, Orphanage Secretary (uncredited)
• Blackmail1939 · as Sarah
• The Women1939 · as Ingrid (uncredited)
• Tell No Tales1939 · as Mrs. Haskins
• 6,000 Enemies1939 · as Prison Matron
• Big Town Czar1939 · as Ma Daley
• Broadway Serenade1939 · as Mrs. Olsen, the Landlady
• Sergeant Madden1939 · as Mrs. McGillivray
• Made for Each Other1939 · as Annie (uncredited)
• How to Sub-Let1939 · as Mrs. Mustavas
• The Great Man Votes1939 · as Mrs. Markham
• Girls on Probation1938 · as Mrs. Engstrom
• Prison Farm1938 · as Cora Waxley
• Stolen Heaven1938 · as Lieschen
• Condemned Women1938 · as Mrs. Clara Glover, Head Matron
• The Awful Truth1937 · as Mrs. Leeson
• Dead End1937 · as Mrs. Fenner
• On Such a Night1937 · as Miss Belinda Fentridge
• Easy Living1937 · as Lillian
• Wild Money1937 · as Jenny Hawkins
• Damaged Goods1937 · as Mrs. Dupont
• Outcast1937 · as Hattie Simmerson
• Hollywood Boulevard1936 · as Martha
• Fury1936 · as Mrs. Whipple
• The Case Against Mrs. Ames1936 · as Matilda
• The Farmer in the Dell1936 · as Ma Boyer
• Lady of Secrets1936 · as Miss Eccles
• Timothy's Quest1936 · as Hitty Tarbox
• The Great Impersonation1935 · as Mrs. Unthank
• I Dream Too Much1935 · as Mrs. Dilley (uncredited)
• In Old Kentucky1935 · as Dolly Breckenridge
• Mary Burns, Fugitive1935 · as Kate
• I Live My Life1935 · as Brumbaugh, Mrs. Gage's Housekeeper
• Curly Top1935 · as Genevieve Graham
• Private Worlds1935 · as Matron
• The Wedding Night1935 · as Mrs. Kaise Novak
• Crime Without Passion1934 · as Miss Keeley (uncredited)

All TV Shows (10)

• Thriller1960 · as Ellen the Maid
• The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis1959
• Lock-Up1959
• The Donna Reed Show1958
• Maverick1957 · as Ma Braus
• M Squad1957 · as Julia Sheldon
• December Bride1954
• Mr. & Mrs. North1952
• Cavalcade of America1952 · as Aunt Tabitha
• Four Star Playhouse1952 · as Mrs. Weston