Lee Patrick

For half a century she created a creditable body of cinematic work, her most memorable being as Sam Spade's assistant Effie in The Maltese Falcon, and her reprise of the role in the George Segal comedy sequel The Black Bird (1975). Her talents were showcased in comedies such as the Jack Benny film George Washington Slept Here (1942) and as one of the foils of Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame. Dramatic parts such as an asylum inmate in The Snake Pit (1948) and as Pamela Tiffin's mother in Summer and Smoke were another facet of her repertoire. She played numerous guest roles in American television, but became a staple for that medium during the two-year run of Topper. Patrick lent her voice to various animated characters of The Alvin Show in the early 1960s.

• Name — Lee Patrick • Birth Name — Lee Salome Patrick • Born — 22 November 1901 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 21 November 1982 • Place of death — Laguna Beach, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1922–1975

Lee Salome Patrick was born on November 22, 1901, in New York City, to entertainment journalist Warren Patrick and Marie S. (Conrad) Patrick. By 1937, Patrick married newsman-writer-publicist Tom Wood, author of The Bright Side of Billy Wilder, Primarily, and remained married 45 years, until her death. They had no children. During her career in Hollywood, she was not in good standing with gossip columnist Louella Parsons, and this conflict kept her career stuck in the "B" ranks. Wood wrote a frank piece on Parsons which did not go over well with the columnist.

Patrick debuted on Broadway in November 1922 in the ensemble of The Bunch and Judy, which ran for eight weeks. In September 1924 she returned to Broadway in an 8-week run of The Green Beetle at the Klaw Theatre, portraying the lead characters' daughter who escaped a murder attempt. The Undercurrent was only the first of 5 plays in which Patrick honed her talent in 1925. The Backslapper (1925) was a political drama that ran for 33 performances with Patrick in a supporting role as Mrs. Kennedy. Patrick performed more comedy later in 1925: Bachelors' Brides was a farce in which she played a guardian angel; It All Depends was another comedy, The farce A Kiss in a Taxi completed Patrick's stage work of 1925. • Illustration — Patrick in Inner Sanctum (1948) The Shelf (1926) ran for 32 performances. Patrick acted in three plays in 1927: the 12-performance comedy Baby Mine; the equally brief The Matrimonial Bed; and Nightstick, an 84-performance run through January 1928. The 24-performance The Common Sin was the only other play she did in 1928. June Moon gave Patrick her longest run of her stage career, 273 performances in 1929 and 1930, and 48 performances in 1933. She rounded out 1930 with the 13-performance run of Room of Dreams. Privilege Car was her first play of 1931, but she soon was on stage in the musical Friendship and finished out that year with 17 performances as Meg in Little Women One of the briefest plays of her career was The Girl Outside in 1932, which ran for 8 performances; however, that one came on the heels of Blessed Event that had run for 115 performances. After Shooting Star in 1933, and Slightly Delirious, her only play of 1934, Patrick began to look towards a film career. Knock on Wood and Abide With Me did not fare much better for her. She had a long run of 169 performances in Stage Door in 1936–1937, but only did one more Broadway play after that, the comedy Michael Drops In.

• Illustration — Cast of Topper (1953): (standing) Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling; (seated from left) Leo G. Carroll, Buck (dog playing "Neil"), and Patrick Patrick appeared on television in the sitcom Topper (1953–1955) with Leo G. Carroll, Anne Jeffreys, and Robert Sterling. She made several appearances as the mother of Ida Lupino in the sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve (1957–1958). In 1962 she played Mrs. Carreway, who mistook Marshal Micah Torrance to be her long lost husband, in The Rifleman episode “Guilty Conscience.” In 1963, she appeared as Aunt Wilma Howard in the episode "Skeleton in the Closet" of the sitcom The Real McCoys. In 1965, she appeared as Mrs. Ashton Durham in the episode "It's a Dog's World" of Hazel and as Cora Prichard in an episode titled "Noblesse Oblige" during the show's final season. She turned in a voice performance as Mrs. Frumpington in an episode of the animated series The Alvin Show, which may be heard on the soundtrack LP by David Seville and The Chipmunks. Patrick made three appearances on I Married Joan.

Patrick died suddenly on November 21, 1982, from a heart seizure at Laguna Beach, California, a day before her 81st birthday.

Plays (26) • Opening date — Closing date — Title — Role — Theatre — Notes — Refs • Nov 28, 1922 — Jan 20, 1923 — Ensemble — Globe Theatre — Adele Astaire headlined as Judy, Fred Astaire played dual roles in the play; Music by Jerome Kern; lyrics Anne Caldwell • Sep 02, 1924 — Oct 1924 — Elsie Chandos — Klaw Theatre — Written by John Willard • Feb 03, 1925 — Feb 1925 — Helen Mills — Cort Theatre — Written by William H. McMaster • Apr 11, 1925 — May 1925 — Mrs. Kennedy — Hudson Theatre — Written by Paul Dickey and Mann Page • May 28, 1925 — Jun 1925 — Bachelors' Brides — Mary Bowing/Percy's Guardian Angel — Cort Theatre — Written by Charles Horace Malcolm • Aug 10, 1925 — Aug 1925 — It All Depends — Maida Spencer — Vanderbilt Theatre — Written by Kate McLauren • Aug 25, 1925 — Oct 1925 — Angele — Ritz Theatre — Claudette Colbert appeared as Ginette in her second play; Adaptation by Clifford Grey from the French play by Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber • Sep 27, 1926 — Oct 1926 — Caroline Wendham — Morosco Theatre — Written by Dorrance Davis • Jun 09, 1927 — Jun 1927 — Baby Mine — Zoie Hardy — Chapin's 46th Street Theatre — Humphrey Bogart appeared in the male lead as Alfred Hardy; written by Margaret Mayo • Oct 12, 1927 — Oct 1927 — Juliette Corton — Ambassador Theatre — Adapted by Seymour Hicks from the French play by André Mouëzy-Éon and Yves Mirande • Nov 10, 1927 — Jan 1928 — Nightstick — Joan Manning — Selwyn Theatre — Written by John Wray, J. C. Nugent, Elliott Nugent and Elaine Sterne Carrington • Oct 15, 1928 — Nov 1928 — "Bobo" Aster — Forrest Theatre — Written by Willard Mack • Oct 09, 1929 — Jun 04, 1930 — June Moon — Eileen — Broadhurst Theatre — Based on the Ring Lardner short story "Some Like Them Cold"; the play was written by Lardner and George S. Kaufman • Nov 05, 1930 — Nov 1930 — Room of Dreams — Jacqueline Emontin — Empire Theatre — Written by Ernest Raoul Weiss • Mar 03, 1931 — Apr 1931 — Privilege Car — Mayme Taylor — 48th Street Theatre — Written by Edward J. Foran and Williard Keefe • Aug 31, 1931 — Sep 1931 — Friendship — Louise Dale — Fulton Theatre — George M. Cohan headlined as Joe Townsend, and his daughter Helen Cohan appeared as Jean; written and produced by Cohan • Dec 07, 1931 — Dec 1931 — Little Women — Meg — Playhouse Theatre — Jessie Royce Landis appeared as Jo; adapted from the Louisa May Alcott book by Marian de Forest • Feb 12, 1932 — May 1932 — Blessed Event — Gladys Price — Longacre Theatre — Written by Manuel Seff and Forrest Wilson • Oct 24, 1932 — Oct 1932 — The Girl — Little Theatre — Written by John King Hodges and Samuel Merwyn • May 15, 1933 — Jun 1933 — June Moon — Eileen — Ambassador Theatre — Reprise of the play written by Ring Lardner and George S. Kaufman • Jun 12, 1933 — Jun 1933 — Shooting Star — Flo Curtis — Selwyn Theatre — Written by Noel Pierce and Bernard C. Schoenfeld • Dec 31, 1934 — Jan 1935 — Slightly Delirious — Millicent Hargraves — Little Theatre — Written by Bernard J. McOwen and Robert F. Adkins • May 28, 1935 — Jun 1935 — Knock on Wood — Pat Moran — Cort Theatre — Written by Allen Rivkin • Nov 21, 1935 — Dec 1935 — Abide With Me — Julia Field — Ritz Theatre — Written by Clare Boothe Brokaw (Luce) • Oct 22, 1936 — Mar 1937 — Stage Door — Judith Canfield — Music Box Theatre — Written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber • Dec 27, 1938 — Jan 1939 — Michael Drops In — Nan McNeil — John Golden Theatre — Written by William DuBois

Television episodes (38) • Year — Title — Role — Notes — Refs. • 1948 — Public Prosecutor — Mrs. Farrell — The Case of the Comic Strip Murder • 1949 — Your Show Time — The Tenor • 1951 — Racket Squad — Virginia Langley — The Case of the Vain Woman • 1952 — Mark Saber — Mrs. Gaunt — The Case of the Midnight Murder • Boss Lady — Aggie — Recurring role, all 12 episodes • 1953 — ' — Ethel — TV film • I Married Joan — Miss Everett — Broken Toe • I Married Joan — Mrs. Murdock — Uncredited, Neighbors • ' — Grocery Store Customer — Hillary's Birthday • Mr. and Mrs. North — Maggie McGinness — The Man Who Came to Murder • General Electric Theater — Hired Mother • 1953–1955 — Topper — Henrietta Topper — Recurring role, run of the series • 1955 — Kings Row — Mrs. Johnson — Mail Order Bride • 1957 — Matinee Theatre — Aesop and Rhodope • ' — Julia Wyatt — The Honolulu Treasure Case • Those Whiting Girls — Dolly — What Price Publicity? • The 20th Century-Fox Hour — Emmie Wasey — The Marriage Broker • Mr. Adams and Eve — Connie Drake — That Magazine • Mr. Adams and Eve — Connie Drake — The Mothers • Mr. Adams and Eve — Connie Drake — This Is Your Life • Circus Boy — Minerva Murdock — Counterfeit Clown • ' — Mrs. Primrose — Hiram's Holiday • 1958 — ' — Eva Clark — Jittery Juror • 1959 — Hawaiian Eye — Pearl Blake — Second Day of Infamy • Wagon Train — Mrs. Elliot Swinbourne Steele — The Steele Family Story • Lawman — The Chef — Mary Young • 1960 — Lawman — Bess Harper — The Old War Horse • The Untouchables — Lelah Dolan — Jack 'Legs' Diamond • ' — Mrs. Endicott — The Machine Calls It Murder • ' — Aunt Millie — Go Home Aunt Millie • 1961 — Pete and Gladys — Phoebe — Lover Go Away • 77 Sunset Strip — Nona Rumson — Strange Bedfellows • Harrigan and Son — Alice Finley — Shall We Dance? • ' — Clarissa Webster — George's Housekeeper • 1961–1962 — ' — Mrs. Frumpington — Squares • 1962 — The Rifleman — Mrs. Leota Carreway — Guilty Conscience • Follow the Sun — Phyllis Curran — Run, Clown, Run • Follow the Sun — Lila — Chicago Style • Adventures in Paradise — Millicent — The Baby Sitters • 1963 — ' — Aunt Wilma — Skeleton in the Closet • 1964 — ' — Geraldine Addison — Scandal in Washington • Summer Playhouse — Miss Birch — August 29, 1964 episode • 1965 — ' — Maudie Baker — The Gladiators • Hazel — Cora — Noblesse Oblige • Hazel — Mrs. Durham — It's a Dog's Life

• Illustration — Lobby card for Crashing Hollywood with Patrick (left) and Lee Tracy (far right) • Illustration — Cast of Inner Sanctum L-R Nana Bryant, Billy House, Lee Patrick and Dale Belding Patrick had the starring role in her first film, Strange Cargo, an early American sound production for Pathé released on March 31, 1929. In this remake of producer Benjamin Glazer's Missing Man, British actor George Barraud played her leading man. It was another six years before she made another film: The Casino Murder Case for MGM. She had a bit part as a nurse in the film, which brought her together for the first time with Leo G. Carroll, with whom two decades later she worked on the television series Topper. She remained in Hollywood and appeared in Border Cafe (1937). Over the next several years, she played numerous supporting roles, without attracting much critical attention. Patrick appeared in The Maltese Falcon (1941) as Effie Perine, the loyal and quick-thinking secretary of Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade. Perine was one of Patrick's more enduring film characterizations. The same year, she appeared in a leading role as an intelligent, crime-solving nurse in The Nurse's Secret. Her other films include The Sisters (1938), Footsteps in the Dark (1941), Now, Voyager (1942), Mrs. Parkington (1944), Gambler's Choice (1944), Mildred Pierce (1945), Wake Up and Dream (1946), Caged (1950), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Vertigo (1958), Auntie Mame (1958), Pillow Talk (1959), Summer and Smoke (1961), and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964). In the mid-1960s, Lee retired to travel and paint in Orange County, California, but was coaxed back one more time to Hollywood. Her final film role was a reprise of the character Effie Perine in The Black Bird, a spoof of the Maltese Falcon, starring George Segal as Sam Spade, Jr., who in the storyline was forced to continue his father's work and to keep his increasingly sarcastic secretary; the film attempted to turn its revered predecessor into a comedy. The only actor joining her from the original cast was Elisha Cook Jr. The film premiered May 9, 1976.

• Key to studio abbreviations • 20th — 20th Century-Fox — CP — Columbia Pictures — FC — Film Classics • MGM — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer — Par — Paramount — Path — Pathé • RP — Republic Pictures — RKO — RKO Radio — UA — United Artists • Uni — Universal — WB — Warner Bros. Feature films (70) • Year — Title — Role — Director — Producer — Distributor — Other cast members — Notes — Refs. • 1929 — Strange Cargo — Diana Foster — Benjamin Glazer, Arthur Gregor — Benjamin Glazer — Path — George Barraud • 1935 — ' — Nurse — Edwin L. Marin — MGM — Paul Lukas • 1937 — Border Cafe — Ellie — Robert Sisk — RKO — Harry Carey, Marjorie Lord • You Can't Beat Love — Minor Role — Robert Sisk — RKO — Preston Foster — (scenes deleted) • Music for Madame — Nora Burns — Jesse L. Lasky — RKO — Nino Martini • Danger Patrol — Nancy Donovan — Maury M. Cohen — RKO — Harry Carey • 1938 — Crashing Hollywood — Goldie Tibbets — Cliff Reid — RKO — Lee Tracy • Night Spot — Flo Bradley — Robert Sisk — RKO — Allan Lane • Maid's Night Out — Kissing Milk Customer — Robert Sisk — RKO — Joan Fontaine, Allan Lane — Uncredited • Condemned Women — Anna 'Big Annie' Barry — Robert Sisk — RKO — Louis Hayward • Law of the Underworld — Dorothy Palmer — Robert Sisk — RKO — Chester Morris • The Sisters — Flora Gibbon — Anatole Litvak — WB — Errol Flynn, Bette Davis • 1939 — Fisherman's Wharf — Stella — Sol Lesser — RKO — Bobby Breen, Leo Carrillo • Invisible Stripes — Molly — Hal B. Wallis, Jack L. Warner — WB — George Raft, William Holden • 1940 — Saturday's Children — Florrie Sands — Hal B. Wallis — WB — John Garfield, Anne Shirley, Claude Rains • Ladies Must Live — Mary Larrabee — William Jacobs, Bryan Foy — WB — George Reeves, Roscoe Karns • Money and the Woman — Martha Church — William Jacobs, Bryan Foy — WB — Jeffrey Lynn, Brenda Marshall, John Litel • City for Conquest — Gladys — William Cagney — WB — James Cagney • South of Suez — Delia Snedeker — Bryan Foy — WB — George Brent, George Tobias • Father is a Prince — Tess Haley — William Jacobs, Bryan Foy — WB — Grant Mitchell, Nana Bryant • 1941 • Honeymoon for Three — Mrs. Pettijohn — Hal B. Wallis — WB — Ann Sheridan • Footsteps in the Dark — Blondie White — Hal B. Wallis — WB — Errol Flynn • ' — Ruth Adams — Bryan Foy — WB — Regis Toomey • Million Dollar Baby — Josie La Rue — Hal B. Wallis — WB — Ronald Reagan • Kisses for Breakfast — Betty Trent — | — Harlan Thompson — WB — Jane Wyatt • ' — Rose Fairchild — Kenneth Gamet — WB — Alexis Smith • The Maltese Falcon — Effie Perine — Hal B. Wallis — WB — Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet • Dangerously They Live — Nurse Johnson — Bryan Foy — WB — John Garfield • 1942 — In This Our Life — Betty Wilmoth — Hal B. Wallis — WB — Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland • Somewhere I'll Find You — Eve "Evie" Manning — Pandro S. Berman — MGM — Clark Gable, Lana Turner • Now, Voyager — 'Deb' McIntyre — Hal B. Wallis — WB — Bette Davis, Paul Henreid. Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper • George Washington Slept Here — Rina Leslie — Jerry Wald — WB — Jack Benny, Ann Sheridan • ' — Polly Franklin — Samuel Bischoff — CP — Loretta Young, Brian Aherne • 1943 — Jitterbugs — Dorcas — Sol M. Wurtzel — 20th — Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy • Nobody's Darling — Miss Pennington — Harry Grey — RP — Louis Calhern • Larceny with Music — Agatha Parkinson — Edward C. Lilley — Uni — Leo Carrillo, Kitty Carlisle, William Frawley • 1944 — Moon Over Las Vegas — Mrs. Blake — Jean Yarbrough — Uni — Anne Gwynne, David Bruce • Gambler's Choice — Fay Lawrence — William H. Pine, William C. Thomas — Par — Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly • Mrs. Parkington — Madeleine Parkington Swann — Leon Gordon — MGM — Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon • Faces in the Fog — Cora Elliott — Armand Schaefer — RP — Jane Withers • 1945 — Keep Your Power Dry — Gladys Hopkins — George Haight — MGM — Lana Turner, Agnes Moorehead, Natalie Schafer • See My Lawyer — Sally Evans — Edmund L. Hartmann — Uni — Ole Olsen • Over 21 — Mrs. Foley — Sidney Buchman — CP — Irene Dunne • Mildred Pierce — Maggie Biederhof — Jerry Wald — WB — Joan Crawford • 1946 — ' — Susan — Albert J. Cohen — CP — Edgar Buchanan • Strange Journey — Mrs. Lathrop — Sol M. Wurtzel — 20th — Paul Kelly • Wake Up and Dream — The Blonde — Walter Morosco — 20th — John Payne, June Haver • 1947 — Mother Wore Tights — Lil — Lamar Trotti — 20th — Betty Grable • 1948 — Singin' Spurs — Clarissa Bloomsbury — Colbert Clark — CP — Hoosier Hot Shots, Jay Silverheels • Big Sister Blues — Karen Saunders — Harry Grey — Par — John Ridgely — Short • Inner Sanctum — Ruth Bennett — Richard B. Morros, Samuel Rheiner, Walter Shenson — FC — Charles Russell • ' — Asylum inmate — Robert Bassler, Anatole Litvak, Darryl F. Zanuck — 20th — Olivia de Havilland • 1949 — ' — Melissa Price — Harry Joe Brown — CP — Randolph Scott • 1950 — Caged — Elvira Powell — Jerry Wald — WB — Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson • ' — Jan Dawson — William H. Pine, William C. Thomas — Par — Macdonald Carey • ' — Claire Simpson — S. Sylvan Simon — CP — Lucille Ball • 1951 — Tomorrow Is Another Day — Janet Higgins — Henry Blanke — WB — Ruth Roman • 1953 — Take Me to Town — Rose — Leonard Goldstein, Ross Hunter — Uni — Ann Sheridan • 1954 — There's No Business Like Show Business — Marge — Sol C. Siegel — 20th — Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe • 1958 — Vertigo — Car Owner Mistaken for Madeleine — Alfred Hitchcock — Par — James Stewart, Kim Novak • Auntie Mame — Doris Upson — Morton DaCosta — WB — Rosalind Russell • 1959 — Pillow Talk — Mrs. Walters — Ross Hunter, Martin Melcher — Uni — Rock Hudson, Doris Day • 1960 — Visit to a Small Planet — Rheba Spelding — Norman Taurog — Par — a Jerry Lewis comedy • 1961 — Goodbye Again — Mme Fleury — Anatole Litvak — UA — Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins — Uncredited • Summer and Smoke — Mrs. Ewell — Paul Nathan, Hal B. Wallis — Par — Laurence Harvey, Geraldine Page • 1962 — ' — Mary Hatten — Joseph H. Hazen, Hal B. Wallis — Par — Laurence Harvey, France Nuyen • 1963 — Wives and Lovers — Mrs. Swenson — Edward Anhalt — Par — Janet Leigh • 1964 — 7 Faces of Dr. Lao — Mrs. Howard T. Cassan — George Pal — George Pal — MGM — Tony Randall • The New Interns — Housekeeper — Robert Cohn — CP — Michael Callan, Barbara Eden • 1975 — ' — Effie — George Segal, Ray Stark, Lou Lombardo, Michael Levee — CP — George Segal, Stéphane Audran — (final film role)