Where To Watch
Barbara Hale was a celebrity among legal secretaries thanks to Perry Mason
Real legal secretaries across the country invited Barbara Hale to legal meetings, and she occasionally showed up.
Barbara Hale was everyone's favorite legal secretary in the hit '60s series Perry Mason. Hale was so convincing in her role as Della Street that real legal secretaries nationwide would send fan mail, inviting the star to legal meetings.
Hale even attended some of them. She is the best legal secretary in the country, anyway.
Hale played the role of Della Street for a total of 271 episodes. What made Hale's role so unique was that it was uncommon for an actress in the '60s to become a celebrity in a legal profession, but Hale was just that good.
"Not long ago, I drove to a meeting of the National Association of Legal Secretaries in Monterey, California," Hale said in a 1961 interview with Hartford Courant. "The gals told me the thing they liked best about me on the show is that I don't say much... yet I'm always around when needed."
"They also criticized me a little," she added. "They kidded me for sitting at the counsel table in court because it's not legal."
According to the interview, Hale had a lot of personal admiration for Burr.
"He's a knight-on-a-white-horse type," Hale said. "Women of all ages that I've met seem affected by him that way. I have a constant flood of mail from girls to old women who always ask me about him. You know, 'women to women.' They want to know what it's like working for him."
Hale said she loved working with Burr, and that could be seen by their bond on and off screen. She said: "From a strictly professional viewpoint, I think he has fantastic sex appeal, too."
During her time on Perry Mason, Hale attended many meetings of legal secretaries in Los Angeles and San Diego. She was convinced of her success as Della Street when her son, who was seven at the time of this interview, was asked what his mom did for work.
According to the interview, he replied: "Mom's a secretary."
"That's when I knew I had arrived," Hale said.
30 Comments
