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