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
Dead End
(1937)
Mrs. Fenner
North to Alaska
(1960)
Woman at Picnic
The Awful Truth
(1937)
Mrs. Leeson
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(1941)
Mrs. Krausheimer
The Women
(1939)
Ingrid (uncredited)
Monkey Business
(1952)
Mrs. Rhinelander
Fury
(1936)
Mrs. Whipple
Holiday Affair
(1949)
Mrs. Ennis
Made for Each Other
(1939)
Annie (uncredited)
The Egg and I
(1947)
Birdie Hicks
Tell No Tales
(1939)
Mrs. Haskins
A Stolen Life
(1946)
Mrs. Johnson
On Moonlight Bay
(1951)
Full Filmography
Acting
Crime Without Passion
(1934)
Miss Keeley (uncredited)
Curly Top
(1935)
Genevieve Graham
Private Worlds
(1935)
Matron
The Wedding Night
(1935)
Mrs. Kaise Novak
In Old Kentucky
(1935)
Dolly Breckenridge
I Live My Life
(1935)
Brumbaugh, Mrs. Gage's Housekeeper
Mary Burns, Fugitive
(1935)
Kate
The Great Impersonation
(1935)
Mrs. Unthank
I Dream Too Much
(1935)
Mrs. Dilley (uncredited)
The Case Against Mrs. Ames
(1936)
Matilda
Fury
(1936)
Mrs. Whipple
Hollywood Boulevard
(1936)
Martha
The Farmer in the Dell
(1936)
Ma Boyer
Lady of Secrets
(1936)
Miss Eccles
Timothy's Quest
(1936)
Hitty Tarbox
Dead End
(1937)
Mrs. Fenner
The Awful Truth
(1937)
Mrs. Leeson
Easy Living
(1937)
Lillian
Damaged Goods
(1937)
Mrs. Dupont
Wild Money
(1937)
Jenny Hawkins
Outcast
(1937)
Hattie Simmerson
On Such a Night
(1937)
Miss Belinda Fentridge
Stolen Heaven
(1938)
Lieschen
Condemned Women
(1938)
Mrs. Clara Glover, Head Matron
Prison Farm
(1938)
Cora Waxley
Girls on Probation
(1938)
Mrs. Engstrom
Blackmail
(1939)
Sarah
Broadway Serenade
(1939)
Mrs. Olsen, the Landlady
The Great Man Votes
(1939)
Mrs. Markham
6,000 Enemies
(1939)
Prison Matron
Tell No Tales
(1939)
Mrs. Haskins
Made for Each Other
(1939)
Annie (uncredited)
A Child Is Born
(1939)
Prison Matron (uncredited)
The Women
(1939)
Ingrid (uncredited)
Sergeant Madden
(1939)
Mrs. McGillivray
Swanee River
(1939)
Temperance Woman
Bad Little Angel
(1939)
Miss Brown, Orphanage Secretary (uncredited)
Big Town Czar
(1939)
Ma Daley
How to Sub-Let
(1939)
Mrs. Mustavas
The Mortal Storm
(1940)
Marta
Blondie Has Servant Trouble
(1940)
Anna Vaughn
Convicted Woman
(1940)
Chief Matron Brackett
And One Was Beautiful
(1940)
Margaret
Women Without Names
(1940)
Head Matron Ingles
Arise, My Love
(1940)
Susie
Laddie
(1940)
Sarah, the Housekeeper
Village Barn Dance
(1940)
Minerva Withers
Untamed
(1940)
Mrs. Smith
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
(1940)
Lincoln's Cook (uncredited)
Cross-Country Romance
(1940)
Mrs. McGillicuddy
Forty Little Mothers
(1940)
Mrs. Mason the Landlady
Opened by Mistake
(1940)
Mrs. Anthony DeBorest
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(1941)
Mrs. Krausheimer
Dangerously They Live
(1941)
Dawson, Goodwin's Housekeeper
All-American Co-Ed
(1941)
Aunt Matilda Collinge
Back Street
(1941)
Mrs. Smith
Aloma of the South Seas
(1941)
Tarusa
Unfinished Business
(1941)
Aunt Mathilda
Maisie Gets Her Man
(1942)
Mrs. McIntyre (Uncredited)
What's Cookin'?
(1942)
Mrs. Murphy (uncredited)
Blondie Goes to College
(1942)
Mrs. Carrie Dill, the Landlady
Ten Gentlemen from West Point
(1942)
Mrs. Thompson
You're Telling Me
(1942)
Aunt Fannie Handley
Wrecking Crew
(1942)
Mike O'Glendy
A Letter From Bataan
(1942)
Mrs. Jackson
Murder in Times Square
(1943)
Longacre Lil
The North Star
(1943)
Anna Kurin
Old Acquaintance
(1943)
Harriet
Swing Your Partner
(1943)
Caroline Bird, aka Anna Robbins
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
(1943)
Her Favorite Patient
(1945)
Martha Gravitt
Behind City Lights
(1945)
Sarah Lowell
On Stage Everybody
(1945)
Ma Cassidy
A Stolen Life
(1946)
Mrs. Johnson
My Reputation
(1946)
Anna
Margie
(1946)
Grandma McSweeney
Smoky
(1946)
Mrs. 'Gram' Richards
The Unfinished Dance
(1947)
Olga
The Egg and I
(1947)
Birdie Hicks
A Song Is Born
(1948)
Miss Bragg
Holiday Affair
(1949)
Mrs. Ennis
Ma and Pa Kettle
(1949)
Mrs. Birdie Hicks
No Man of Her Own
(1950)
Josie
Walk Softly, Stranger
(1950)
Miss Thompson
Surrender
(1950)
Aunt May
Too Young to Kiss
(1951)
Mrs. Boykin
On Moonlight Bay
(1951)
Monkey Business
(1952)
Mrs. Rhinelander
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
(1952)
Birdie Hicks
A Tale of Two Cities
(1953)
Pross
Betrayed Women
(1955)
Head Matron Ballard
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
(1955)
Birdie Hicks
The Oklahoman
(1957)
Mrs. Fitzgerald
The Sound and the Fury
(1959)
Mrs. Maud Mansfield
North to Alaska
(1960)
Woman at Picnic