Occupation Actress Name Esther Dale | Role Actress | |
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Cause of death complications from surgery Years active 1934-1960 (film and television roles, though in earlier years appeared on stage including Broadway) Died July 23, 1961, Hollywood, California, United States Spouse Arthur J. Beckhard (m. ?–1961) Movies The Awful Truth, Curly Top, Monkey Business, Holiday Affair, The Egg and I Similar People Griff Barnett, Henry O'Neill, Irving Cummings, Gordon Gebert, Curtis Bernhardt |
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.
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Early years
Dale was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. 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. Her singing career included appearances with the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

At one point, Dale was head of Smith College's vocal department.
Stage
In America, Dale 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 other Broadway credits include Harvest of Years (1947), And Be My Love (1944), and Another Language (1932).
Film

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.
Television
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.
Death
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.