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Patricia Harper (screenwriter)

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Patricia Harper
Born
Frances Persotia Harper

February 21, 1908
Died???
???
OccupationScreenwriter
Spouse(s)
Gordon Eskridge
(divorced)

George Johnson Ross

Patricia Harper (born Frances Persotia Harper, February 21, 1908, date of death unknown) was an American screenwriter and actress who wrote B-Westerns in the 1930s and 1940s.[1]

Biography

Origins

A native of Indiana, Harper was born to Thaddeus S. Harper and Eunice Bennett in 1908. She was raised primarily in Oklahoma City, where she met and married Gordon Eskridge in 1927. The pair had a son and divorced less than two years later.

Hollywood career

Patricia's parents raised her son[2] while she attended art school and moved further west to seek work as a writer and actress.[3][4] Soon after arriving in Hollywood, she appeared in a string of smaller roles, but more importantly, she forged a promising career for herself as a screenwriter.[5] She'd pen more than a dozen Westerns between 1938 and 1947. She later said she decided to go by Patricia because no one believed Persotia was a real name.[6]

Relationships

She was rumored to be engaged to Jesse Lasky Jr. in the early 1930s, but Lasky later said they had just been friends.[7][8] She married advertising executive George Johnson Ross in 1947.[9]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ "14 Feb 1935, Page 4 - Corsicana Daily Sun at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  2. ^ "17 Feb 1935, Page 29 - The Decatur Herald at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  3. ^ "27 Jan 1933, Page 1 - The Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  4. ^ "17 Feb 1935, Page 29 - The Decatur Herald at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  5. ^ "30 Nov 1941, 32 - The Daily Oklahoman at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  6. ^ "13 Jun 1934, 21 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  7. ^ "30 Oct 1932, 44 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  8. ^ "31 Jan 1933, Page 1 - Oakland Tribune at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  9. ^ "13 Nov 1947, 16 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.