Esther Dale

Esther Dale (November 10, 1885 – July 23, 1961) was an American actress of the stage and screen.

Early life and education Dale was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townshend, Vermont. In Berlin, Germany, she studied music and enjoyed a successful career as a singer of Lieder on the concert stage.

Career Dale was head of Smith College's vocal department

Her singing career included appearances with the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She sang in England for two months in 1930 and was invited back there for a long concert series. Her recordings were popular in England and Scotland.

In the U.S., Dale transferred to the acting stage and cultivated a career as an actress in Summer stock. She 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 played Birdie Hicks in the Ma and Pa Kettle films The Egg and I (1947), Ma and Pa Kettle (1949), Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952), and Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955).

Dale played many roles in television over the years. In 1957, she appeared in the 1957 Maverick episode "According to Hoyle" opposite James Garner. That same year, she guest-starred in the TV Western series Wagon Train, playing Grandma Birch, in the episode "The Julie Gage Story". 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. Dale played a ladylady, Mrs. Finch, in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis episode "Live Alone and Like It".

Personal life Dale died in the summer of 1961 following surgery in Queen of Angels Hospital in Hollywood. Her husband, writer-director Arthur J. Beckhard, had died four months earlier.

Partial filmography

Crime Without Passion (1934) as Miss Keeley (uncredited) The Wedding Night (1935) as Mrs. Kaise Novak Private Worlds (1935) as Matron Curly Top (1935) as Aunt Genevieve Graham I Live My Life (1935) as Brumbaugh, Mrs. Gage's Housekeeper Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935) as Kate In Old Kentucky (1935) as Dolly Breckenridge I Dream Too Much (1935) as Mrs. Dilley (uncredited) The Great Impersonation (1935) as Mrs. Unthank Timothy's Quest (1936) as Hitty Tarbox Lady of Secrets (1936) as Miss Eccles The Farmer in the Dell (1936) as Louella 'Ma' Boyer The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936) as Matilda Fury (1936) as Mrs. Whipple Hollywood Boulevard (1936) as Martha The Magnificent Brute (1936) as Mrs. Randolph (uncredited) Outcast (1937) as Hattie Simmerson Damaged Goods (1937) as Mrs. Dupont Easy Living (1937) as Lillian Wild Money (1937) as Jenny Hawkins Dead End (1937) as Mrs. Fenner On Such a Night (1937) as Miss Belinda Fentridge The Awful Truth (1937) as Mrs. Leeson Of Human Hearts (1938) as Mrs. Cantwell (uncredited) Condemned Women (1938) as Mrs. Clara Glover, Head Matron Stolen Heaven (1938) as Lieschen Prison Farm (1938) as Cora Waxley Girls on Probation (1938) as Nrs, Engstrom (uncredited) Dramatic School (1938) as Forewoman in Factory (uncredited) The Great Man Votes (1939) as Ms. Markham (uncredited) Made for Each Other (1939) as Annie, Cook #1 (uncredited) Sergeant Madden (1939) as Mrs. McGillivray (uncredited) Broadway Serenade (1939) as Mrs. Olsen Big Town Czar (1939) as Ma Daley Tell No Tales (1939) as Mrs. Haskins 6,000 Enemies (1939) as Matron The Women (1939) as Ingrid (uncredited) Blackmail (1939) as Sarah Bad Little Angel (1939) as Miss Brown, Orphanage Secretary (uncredited) A Child Is Born (1939) as Prison Matron (uncredited) Swanee River (1939) as Temperance Woman Laddie (1940) as Sarah, the Housekeeper Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) as Lincoln's Cook (uncredited) Village Barn Dance (1940) as Minerva Withers Convicted Woman (1940) as Chief Matron Brackett Women Without Names (1940) as Head Matron Ingles And One Was Beautiful (1940) as Margaret Forty Little Mothers (1940) as Mrs. Mason, Landlady (uncredited) Opened by Mistake (1940) as Mrs. Anthony DeBorest The Mortal Storm (1940) as Marta Untamed (1940) as Mrs. Smith Cross-Country Romance (1940) as Mrs. McGillicuddy (uncredited) Blondie Has Servant Trouble (1940) as Anna Vaughn Arise, My Love (1940) as Susie Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) as Mrs. Krausheimer Back Street (1941) as Mrs. Smith The Hard-Boiled Canary (1941) as Miss Clark Unfinished Business (1941) as Aunt Mathilda Aloma of the South Seas (1941) as Tarusa All-American Co-Ed (1941) as Aunt Matilda Collinge Dangerously They Live (1941) as Dawson Blondie Goes to College (1942) as Mrs. Carrie Dill, the Landlady (uncredited) What's Cookin'? (1942) as Mrs. Murphy (uncredited) You're Asking Me (1942) as Aunt Fannie Handley Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) as Mrs. Thompson Maisie Gets Her Man (1942) as Mrs. Myra McIntyre, Elsie's Mother (uncredited) I Married an Angel (1942) as Mrs. Gherkin (uncredited) Wrecking Crew (1942) as Mike O'Glendy The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943) as Lucy Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943) as Aunt Harriet (uncredited) Murder in Times Square (1943) as Longacre Lil Swing Your Partner (1943) as Caroline Bird, aka Anna Robbins The North Star (1943) as Anna Kurin Old Acquaintance (1943) as Harriet Out of This World (1945) as Abbie Pringle (uncredited) Bedside Manner (1945) as Martha Gravitt On Stage Everybody (1945) as Ma Cassidy Behind City Lights (1945) as Sarah Lowell My Reputation (1946) as Anna A Stolen Life (1946) as Mrs. Johnson Smoky (1946) as Mrs. 'Gram' Richards Margie (1946) as Grandma McSweeney The Egg and I (1947) as Birdie Hicks The Unfinished Dance (1947) as Olga A Song Is Born (1948) as Miss Bragg Ma and Pa Kettle (1949) as Mrs. Birdie Hicks Anna Lucasta (1949) as Mrs. Polaski (uncredited) Holiday Affair (1949) as Mrs. Ennis No Man of Her Own (1950) as Josie Surrender (1950) as Aunt May Walk Softly, Stranger (1950) as Miss Thompson On Moonlight Bay (1951) as Aunt Martha Robertson (uncredited) Too Young to Kiss (1951) as Mrs. Boykin Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952) as Birdie Hicks Monkey Business (1952) as Mrs. Rhinelander Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955) as Birdie Hicks Betrayed Women (1955) as Head Matron Ballard The Oklahoman (1957) as Mrs. Fitzgerald The Sound and the Fury (1959) as Mrs. Maud Mansfield (uncredited) North to Alaska (1960) as Woman at Picnic (uncredited)