Esther Dale was born on November 10, 1885 in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townsend, Vermont, and then studied music in Berlin, Germany, and had a successful career as a lieder singer. Later, she became an actress in summer stock. She had the title role on Broadway of Carrie Nation in 1933, which also starred James Stewart, Mildred Natwick and Joshua Logan. Her first film was Crime Without Passion (1934) in 1934, followed by many, many roles in movies and television. Her husband, writer/director Arthur J. Beckhard was her manager. He died in March 1961 and she died a few months later, after surgery, in Queen of Angels Hospital in Hollywood, California.