Elizabeth Patterson (actress)
| Elizabeth Patterson | |
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| Born | Mary Elizabeth Patterson November 22, 1875 Savannah, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | January 31, 1966 (aged 90) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1890s–1961 |
Elizabeth Patterson (November 22, 1875 – January 31, 1966) was an American film and television character actress remembered for her portrayal of elderly neighbor Matilda Trumbull on I Love Lucy.
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[edit] Career
Patterson was born in Savannah, Tennessee. Her father, who had been a Confederate soldier, was a judge in Hardin County. She was educated in the county's public schools and at colleges in Pulaski and Columbia, where her participation in college theatricals helped to form her interest in drama.[1] Her parents sent her to Europe in the hope of discouraging her interest in the theater, but her determination to become an actress was only reinforced by her experiences attending productions at the Comédie Française.[1]
After returning from Europe, Patterson used a small inheritance to move to Chicago, where she joined a theatrical troupe, and subsequently toured with repertory companies.[1] In 1913, she made her Broadway debut in the play Everyman. She remained active in New York City theatre through 1954.
In 1926, at the age of 51, Patterson was cast in her first movie, The Boy Friend. Additional screen credits include: A Bill of Divorcement; Tarnished Lady; Dinner at Eight; High, Wide, and Handsome; Intruder in the Dust; Remember the Night; No Man of Her Own; The Shocking Miss Pilgrim; Little Women; My Sister Eileen; and Pal Joey.
In 1952, at the age of 77, Patterson was cast as Mrs. Willoughby, the wife of the Greenwich, Connecticut justice of the peace who re-marries Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in an episode of I Love Lucy. The following year she was cast in the recurring role of Mrs. Trumbull, the lovable neighbor and Little Ricky's babysitter. She remained with the series for three years. Although her character sometimes managed the building when the series "travelled", it was Mrs. Trumbull's sister who supposedly moved into 623 East 68th Street to manage the building for Fred Mertz when the series moved to Connecticut in 1957.
Never married, Patterson lived alone at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel during her thirty five-year motion picture career. She died in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia at the age of 90. She is buried in her hometown of Savannah.
[edit] Selected filmography
- South Sea Rose (1929)
- Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
- Infernal Machine (1933)
- Go West, Young Man (with Mae West) (1936)
- Sons of the Legion (1938)
- Adventure in Diamonds (1940)
- Colonel Effingham's Raid (1946)
- Out of the Blue (1947)
- Dinner at Eight (1933)
[edit] References
- Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
- New York Times biography
- The Divine Miss Patty at LucyFan.com
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c Cohen, Scott. "Elizabeth Patterson (1875-1966)". Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1643. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
