Esther Dale
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.
Acted in
North to Alaska
1960
as Woman at Picnic
Thriller
1960
as Ellen the Maid
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
1959
Lock-Up
1959
The Sound and the Fury
1959
as Mrs. Maud Mansfield
The Donna Reed Show
1958
Maverick
1957
as Ma Braus
M Squad
1957
as Julia Sheldon
The Oklahoman
1957
as Mrs. Fitzgerald
Betrayed Women
1955
as Head Matron Ballard
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki
1955
as Birdie Hicks
December Bride
1954
A Tale of Two Cities
1953
as Pross
Mr. & Mrs. North
1952
Cavalcade of America
1952
as Aunt Tabitha
Four Star Playhouse
1952
as Mrs. Weston
Monkey Business
1952
as Mrs. Rhinelander
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
1952
as Birdie Hicks
Too Young to Kiss
1951
as Mrs. Boykin
On Moonlight Bay
1951
Walk Softly, Stranger
1950
as Miss Thompson
Surrender
1950
as Aunt May
No Man of Her Own
1950
as Josie
Holiday Affair
1949
as Mrs. Ennis
Ma and Pa Kettle
1949
as Mrs. Birdie Hicks
A Song Is Born
1948
as Miss Bragg
The Unfinished Dance
1947
as Olga
The Egg and I
1947
as Birdie Hicks
Margie
1946
as Grandma McSweeney
Smoky
1946
as Mrs. 'Gram' Richards
A Stolen Life
1946
as Mrs. Johnson
My Reputation
1946
as Anna
Behind City Lights
1945
as Sarah Lowell
On Stage Everybody
1945
as Ma Cassidy
Her Favorite Patient
1945
as Martha Gravitt
Old Acquaintance
1943
as Harriet
The North Star
1943
as Anna Kurin
Swing Your Partner
1943
as Caroline Bird, aka Anna Robbins
Murder in Times Square
1943
as Longacre Lil
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
1943
Wrecking Crew
1942
as Mike O'Glendy
A Letter From Bataan
1942
as Mrs. Jackson
Ten Gentlemen from West Point
1942
as Mrs. Thompson
Maisie Gets Her Man
1942
as Mrs. McIntyre (Uncredited)
You're Telling Me
1942
as Aunt Fannie Handley
What's Cookin'?
1942
as Mrs. Murphy (uncredited)
Blondie Goes to College
1942
as Mrs. Carrie Dill, the Landlady
Dangerously They Live
1941
as Dawson, Goodwin's Housekeeper
All-American Co-Ed
1941
as Aunt Matilda Collinge
Aloma of the South Seas
1941
as Tarusa
Unfinished Business
1941
as Aunt Mathilda
Back Street
1941
as Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
1941
as Mrs. Krausheimer
Arise, My Love
1940
as Susie
Blondie Has Servant Trouble
1940
as Anna Vaughn
Untamed
1940
as Mrs. Smith
Cross-Country Romance
1940
as Mrs. McGillicuddy
The Mortal Storm
1940
as Marta
Opened by Mistake
1940
as Mrs. Anthony DeBorest
Forty Little Mothers
1940
as Mrs. Mason the Landlady
And One Was Beautiful
1940
as Margaret
Women Without Names
1940
as Head Matron Ingles
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
1940
as Lincoln's Cook (uncredited)
Convicted Woman
1940
as Chief Matron Brackett
Village Barn Dance
1940
as Minerva Withers
Laddie
1940
as Sarah, the Housekeeper
Swanee River
1939
as Temperance Woman
A Child Is Born
1939
as Prison Matron (uncredited)
Bad Little Angel
1939
as Miss Brown, Orphanage Secretary (uncredited)
Blackmail
1939
as Sarah
The Women
1939
as Ingrid (uncredited)
Tell No Tales
1939
as Mrs. Haskins
6,000 Enemies
1939
as Prison Matron
Big Town Czar
1939
as Ma Daley
Broadway Serenade
1939
as Mrs. Olsen, the Landlady
Sergeant Madden
1939
as Mrs. McGillivray
Made for Each Other
1939
as Annie (uncredited)
How to Sub-Let
1939
as Mrs. Mustavas
The Great Man Votes
1939
as Mrs. Markham
Girls on Probation
1938
as Mrs. Engstrom
Prison Farm
1938
as Cora Waxley
Stolen Heaven
1938
as Lieschen
Condemned Women
1938
as Mrs. Clara Glover, Head Matron
The Awful Truth
1937
as Mrs. Leeson
Dead End
1937
as Mrs. Fenner
On Such a Night
1937
as Miss Belinda Fentridge
Easy Living
1937
as Lillian
Wild Money
1937
as Jenny Hawkins
Damaged Goods
1937
as Mrs. Dupont
Outcast
1937
as Hattie Simmerson
Hollywood Boulevard
1936
as Martha
Fury
1936
as Mrs. Whipple
The Case Against Mrs. Ames
1936
as Matilda
The Farmer in the Dell
1936
as Ma Boyer
Lady of Secrets
1936
as Miss Eccles
Timothy's Quest
1936
as Hitty Tarbox
The Great Impersonation
1935
as Mrs. Unthank
I Dream Too Much
1935
as Mrs. Dilley (uncredited)
In Old Kentucky
1935
as Dolly Breckenridge
Mary Burns, Fugitive
1935
as Kate
I Live My Life
1935
as Brumbaugh, Mrs. Gage's Housekeeper
Curly Top
1935
as Genevieve Graham
Private Worlds
1935
as Matron
The Wedding Night
1935
as Mrs. Kaise Novak
Crime Without Passion
1934
as Miss Keeley (uncredited)