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