[5] Hale moved to Hollywood in 1943, and under contract to RKO Radio Pictures, made her first screen appearance (uncredited) in Gildersleeve's Bad Day.

She received excellent notices for her co-starring performance opposite Larry Parks in the musical biography Jolson Sings Again (1949).

Hale was considering retirement from acting when she accepted her best known role, as legal secretary Della Street in the television series Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr as the titular character.

In 1985, Hale and Burr (by then the only surviving cast members from the original series) reprised their roles for the TV movie Perry Mason Returns.

Hale continued her role as Della in the four telefilms produced after Burr's death in 1993, subtitled A Perry Mason Mystery (and starring Paul Sorvino as Anthony Caruso in the first film and Hal Holbrook as "Wild" Bill McKenzie in the remaining three).

[9] When the Amana Corporation wanted a spokeswoman for its new Radarange microwave ovens, Barbara Hale was selected, her friendly personality already familiar to millions of women viewers.

"[10] In 1945, during the filming of West of the Pecos, Hale met actor Bill Williams (birth name Herman August Wilhelm Katt).

[12] Hale died at her home in Sherman Oaks, California, on January 26, 2017, at age 94 of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.