Barbara Hale, a movie actress who found her most famous role on television as steadfast secretary Della Street in the long-running «Perry Mason» series, has died. She was 94.
Hale was surrounded by family when she died Thursday at her Los Angeles area home, said Jaqueline Stander, an agent for Hale’s son, actor William Katt («The Greatest American Hero,» «Carrie»).
«She was gracious and kind and silly and always fun to be with,» Katt posted on his Facebook page Thursday, calling Hale a wonderful actress and a «treasure as a friend and mother. »
Stander declined to provide the cause of death.
Hale appeared in «Perry Mason» on CBS from 1957 to 1966, winning an Emmy as best actress in 1959. When the show was revived in 1985 on NBC as an occasional TV movie, she again appeared in court at the side of the ever-victorious lawyer played by Raymond Burr.
She continued her role after Burr died in 1993 and was replaced by Hal Holbrook for the movies that continued into 1995.
«I guess I was just meant to be a secretary who doesn’t take shorthand,» she once quipped. «I’m a lousy typist, too — 33 words a minute. »
Hale was born in DeKalb, Illinois, daughter of a landscape gardener and a homemaker. The family moved to Rockford when she was 4, and she later took part in a local theater. But her goals were to be a nurse or journalist.
When her ambition turned to art she studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, where she was often sought as a model. Her work for a modeling agency prompted an offer for a routine contract at the RKO studio in Hollywood.
When she reported to the casting director, he was speaking on the phone to someone who needed an immediate replacement for an actress who was sick.
«It hit every paper the next day: the Cinderella story,» she recalled in a 1993 Chicago Tribune interview. «Of course they said it was a starring role. I had one line, but you know about those things. »
The movie was a quickie, «Gildersleeve’s Bad Day,» but she went on to appear with Pat O’Brien in «The Iron Major,» Frank Sinatra in «Higher and Higher» and Robert Young in «Lady Luck. »
Another co-star was a blond actor named Bill Williams (real name: William Katt), with whom she appeared in «West of the Pecos» and «A Likely Story. » They had met over coffee in the studio commissary and married in Rockford in 1946. The couple had three children: Nita, William and Jody.
Williams, who died in 1992, later gained TV fame as star of «The Adventures of Kit Carson. » Their son goes by his father’s original name, William Katt.
After her RKO contract ended, Hale worked at other studios, usually as the adoring wife of the leading man. She played opposite Larry Parks in «Jolson Sings Again,» James Stewart in «Jackpot» and James Cagney in «A Lion Is in the Streets. »
In 1957, she joined the memorable cast of «Perry Mason» that included Burr as the defense attorney who solved his cases in the courtroom, William Hopper as investigator Paul Drake, William Talman as never-winning prosecutor Hamilton Burger and Ray Collins as police lieutenant Arthur Tragg.
«When we started, it was the beginning of women not working at home,» Hale said in the 1993 interview. «I liked that she was not married. My husband, Bill, didn’t have to see me married to another man, and our children didn’t have to see me mothering other children. »
In the early 1970s, Hale took on another widely recognized role, touting Amana Radarange microwave ovens in TV commercials and print ads.
Burr and Hale were the only original cast members when the show resumed on NBC in 1985 in the movie format. Her son, William Katt, appeared in nine of the two-hour shows, as the investigator son of Paul Drake.
Hale’s later films included the original «Airport,» playing the wife of Dean Martin’s pilot character; «The Giant Spider Invasion,» and «Big Wednesday,» in which she appeared with her son.
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This story has been corrected to say that Barbara Hale played the wife of Dean Martin’s pilot character in the film «Airport. «

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By winning the highest honor at the 28th annual PGA Awards on Saturday night, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, La Land , a critically and commercially successful original musical about struggling artists in Hollywood, further solidified its status as the clear favorite to win the best picture Oscar. Not every past winner of the PGA’s top prize has gone on to claim the Academy’s top prize — just last year, The Big Short won the PGA Ward, but Spotlight won the Oscar. However, 19 of its 27 prior recipients did, and there is plenty of reason to believe that isn’t purely coincidental.
The PGA Awards, like the Oscars that follow it by almost a month, but unlike all of the other awards that precede it, reflects the preferences of people who actually make movies, which often is very different from those of people who don’t: The Hurt Locker , The King’s Speech and Birdman , among other recent best picture Oscar winners, first lost at the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe awards — both determined by journalists, who aren’t represented in the Academy at all — and only saw their fortunes turn around after the PGA crowned them as the year’s best.
The number of PGA voters and the number of Academy members is almost exactly the same (both right around 7,000). The PGA Awards and the Oscars use the same quirky preferential balloting system (they both adopted it eight years ago as part of an effort to honor «consensus choices»). And, because — this year, at least — the PGA Awards were given out before final Oscar balloting even started (it opens Feb. 13), the results could, conceivably, influence Academy members.
What makes La Land ‘s PGA Award win extra significant is that the film was pitted against — and vanquished — the exact same films against which it is nominated for the best picture Oscar: Arrival , Fences , Hacksaw Ridge , Hell or High Water , Hidden Figures , La Land , Lion , Manchester by the Sea , Moonlight ), plus one other (the PGA, unlike the Academy, guarantees 10 nominees, and Deadpool also made its cut).
The win for La Land was not unexpected, but many representatives of its best picture Oscar competitors, and Oscar hopefuls from other categories, still showed up and presented other prizes — after all, putting oneself in front of a room full of the industry’s most powerful producers seems like a good way to drum up not only Oscar votes, but also job offers! Oscar-nominated presenters included Moonlight ‘s Mahershala Ali , Manchester by the Sea ‘s Casey Affleck , Lion ‘s Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman (separately), Hell or High Water ‘s Jeff Bridges , Hidden Figures ‘ Octavia Spencer and Trolls ‘ Justin Timberlake. Appearing on behalf of Oscar-nominated films were Arrival ‘s Amy Adams , 13th ‘s Common , Moonlight ‘s Alex R. Hibbert , Hidden Figures ‘ Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae , Hacksaw Ridge ‘s Teresa Palmer , Fences ‘ Mykelti Williamson and La Land ‘s John Legend (who made powerful off-the-cuff remarks criticizing President Donald Trump ‘s just-enacted immigration ban).
The race to Oscar night continues on Sunday with the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards. One thing is for sure: La Land will not be winning the top prize at that event — best ensemble — since it wasn’t even nominated for it. People can argue over why it was left out in favor of Moonlight , Manchester by the Sea, Hidden Figures , Fences and Captain Fantastic — most assume that the guild’s nominating committee deemed La Land too much of a two-hander to be recognized as an ensemble effort, which is understandable enough — but the fact remains that only one film in the 21 years in which the best ensemble prize previously was presented was not nominated for it but still won the best picture Oscar (1995’s Braveheart ). So, as tempting as it is to call this year’s best picture Oscar race right now, a lot can still happen between now and Feb. 26.

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