Chanin Hale

Chanin Hale was born Marilyn Victoria Chanine Hale Haney in Dayton, Ohio. As a creative, athletic girl, she won art awards and excelled in sports. Being "bit" by the performing bug in school, Hale pursued acting and acquired roles in student and community theater, taking lessons in dancing and singing. She dyed her red hair platinum blonde, and joined the Dayton Y Players, learning Greek tragedy and low comedy. She attained some success in the title role of Annie Get Your Gun, which helped to land a role in Little Mary Sunshine, playing a flirtatious character named Twinkle. Hale took to her mother's family name, retaining it into her professional career.^[2]

Hale moved to New York in 1955 and became a stage actress. She toured with the revue "High Time" performing in plays such as Bus Stop (1955), The Gazebo (1958) with William Bendix,^[3] Little Mary Sunshine (1959), and Come Blow Your Horn (1961).

Hale began in television as secretaries, corpses, and other "bit" roles. In a 1963 UCLA comedy production, she met Jack Albertson who introduced her to Red Skelton. With excellent pantomime skills, Hale appeared regularly on the show. Her other television appearances include roles on Adam-12, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, The Danny Kaye Show, Death Valley Days, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Donna Reed Show, Dragnet (she was one of several "stable" actors that Jack Webb used in recurring roles on his shows), Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Green Acres, Hey, Landlord, Hondo, The Jimmy Stewart Show, and Gunsmoke, among others.

Film appearances include Synanon (1965), A Guide for the Married Man (1967), Gunn (1967), The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (1968), Will Penny (1968), and The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968).^[4]

Hale was also a regular supporter of, and toured with, the USO, to Vietnam and other overseas locations, well into the late 1960s. Subsequently, Hale was one of the last successful pinup models. Early in 1969, she was a favorite with the soldiers; thousands of 8x10s were printed and mailed after her photo was published by the New York Daily News posing as Eve in a homemade costume.^[1][2]

Hale was married to Richard Bradshaw in 1986 until her death nearly 34 years later. She died at the age of 91.^[1]