Esther Dale

Esther Dale
in Made for Each Other, 1939
Born	(1885-11-10)November 10, 1885 Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	July 23, 1961(1961-07-23) (aged 75) Queen of Angels Hospital, Hollywood, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Complications from surgery
Occupation	Actress and singer
Years active	1932–1961 (stage, film and television roles)
Spouse(s)	Arthur Beckhard (m.? - March 1961; his death)

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.^[1]

Biography

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.

In America, she 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 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.

She 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.

Dale died in the summer of 1961 following surgery in Queen of Angels Hospital in Hollywood. She had been married to writer and director Arthur J. Beckhard, who predeceased her by four months.

Partial filmography

References

External links

• Esther Dale at the Internet Movie Database
• Esther Dale at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Esther Dale at Find a Grave