Barbara Hale

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American actress best known for her role as legal secretary Della Street in the television series Perry Mason (1957–1966), earning her a 1959 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She reprised the role in 30 Perry Mason movies for television (1985–1995), also starring Raymond Burr as the titular character. Hale had leading roles in movies including West of the Pecos (1945), Lady Luck (1946), and The Window (1949) in which she starred as the mother of a boy who witnesses a murder. Hale was part of an all-star cast in the 1970 movie Airport, playing the wife of an airline pilot (played by Dean Martin). Hale's final appearance in a feature film was in the 1978 drama Big Wednesday as Mrs. Barlow, the mother of the character played by Hale's real-life son William Katt. Hale was married to actor Bill Williams (birth name Herman August Wilhelm Katt) for 46 years from 22 June 1946 until Williams' death from cancer on 21 September 1992. The couple had two daughters, Jodi and Juanita, and a son, actor William Katt. A bladder cancer survivor, she became a follower of the Bahá'í Faith. Hale died at her home in Sherman Oaks, California, on 26 January 2017 of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was 94. Link to Wikipedia biography