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Elizabeth Patterson (actress)
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Patterson was an American film and television character actress
remembered for her portrayal of elderly neighbor Matilda Trumbull on I Love Lucy
.
. 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 college
s in Pulaski
and Columbia
, where her participation in college theatricals helped to form her interest in drama
. 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.
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. 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.
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
remembered for her portrayal of elderly neighbor Matilda Trumbull on I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
.
Career
Patterson was born in Savannah, TennesseeSavannah, Tennessee
Savannah is a city in Hardin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,917 at the 2000 census and the 2007 population estimate was 7,262. It is the county seat of Hardin County. Savannah hosted the NAIA college football national championship game from 1996-2007. Savannah is home to...
. Her father, who had been a Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
soldier, was a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
in Hardin County
Hardin County, Tennessee
Hardin County is a county located in the U.S. State of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 26,026. The Hardin County seat is Savannah. The county was named posthumously for Col. Joseph Hardin, a Revolutionary War soldier and a legislative representative for the Province of North Carolina and...
. She was educated in the county's public schools and at college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
s in Pulaski
Pulaski, Tennessee
Pulaski is a city in Giles County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 7,870 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Giles County. It was named to honor the Polish-born American Revolutionary War hero Kazimierz Pułaski...
and Columbia
Columbia, Tennessee
Columbia is a city in Maury County, Tennessee, United States. The 2008 population was 34,402 according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. It is the county seat of Maury County....
, where her participation in college theatricals helped to form her interest in drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
. Her parents sent her to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
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.
After returning from Europe, Patterson used a small inheritance to move to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where she joined a theatrical troupe, and subsequently toured with repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
companies. In 1913, she made her Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut in the play Everyman. She remained active in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
theatre through 1954.
In 1926, at the age of 51, Patterson was cast in her first movie, The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend (1926 film)
The Boy Friend is a 1926 film directed by Monta Bell. This was the film debut of Elizabeth Patterson, at age 50. The film is considered lost.-Plot:...
. Additional screen credits include: A Bill of Divorcement
A Bill of Divorcement
A Bill of Divorcement is a 1932 American drama film, directed by George Cukor and starring John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn in her movie debut. It is based on the British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane as a reaction to a law passed in Britain in the early 1920s that allowed...
; Tarnished Lady
Tarnished Lady
Tarnished Lady is a 1931 American drama film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart is based on his short story "A Story of a New York Lady."-Plot:...
; Dinner at Eight
Dinner at Eight (film)
Dinner at Eight is a Pre-Code 1933 comedy of manners/drama produced by MGM Studios. The film was adapted to the screen by Frances Marion and Herman J. Mankiewicz from the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, with additional dialogue supplied by Donald Ogden Stewart. Produced by David O...
; High, Wide, and Handsome
High, Wide, and Handsome
High, Wide, and Handsome is a 1937 American musical film starring Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Alan Hale, Sr., Charles Bickford, and Dorothy Lamour....
; Intruder in the Dust
Intruder in the Dust
Intruder in the Dust is a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning American author William Faulkner publishedin 1948.The novel focuses on Lucas Beauchamp, a black farmer accused of murdering a white man. He is exonerated through the efforts of black and white teenagers and a spinster from a...
; Remember the Night
Remember the Night
Remember the Night is a 1940 American romantic comedy/drama Christmas film directed by Mitchell Leisen, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray...
; No Man of Her Own
No Man of Her Own (1932 film)
No Man of Her Own is a 1932 light comedy film starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard as a married couple in their only film together, several years before their own legendary marriage in real life...
; The Shocking Miss Pilgrim
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim is a 1947 American musical comedy film written and directed by George Seaton, starring Betty Grable and Dick Haymes...
; Little Women
Little Women (1949 film)
Little Women directed by Mervyn LeRoy is based on Louisa May Alcott's novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Sally Benson, Victor Heerman, Sarah Y. Mason, and Andrew Solt...
; My Sister Eileen
My Sister Eileen (1942 film)
My Sister Eileen is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall. The screenplay by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov is based on their 1940 play of the same title, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New...
; and Pal Joey
Pal Joey (film)
Pal Joey is a 1957 film, loosely adapted from the musical play of the same name, and starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak. Jo Ann Greer sang for Hayworth, as she had done previously in Affair in Trinidad and Miss Sadie Thompson. Kim Novak's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin...
.
In 1952, at the age of 77, Patterson was cast as Mrs. Willoughby, the wife of the Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
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
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a historic Spanish-style hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Named after Theodore Roosevelt and financed by a group including Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Louis B. Mayer, it first opened its doors on May 15, 1927...
during her thirty five-year motion picture career. She died in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
of complications from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
at the age of 90. She is buried in her hometown of Savannah.
Selected filmography
- Go West, Young ManGo West, Young ManGo West, Young Man is a 1936 Paramount Pictures comedy film directed by Henry Hathaway starring Mae West. The supporting cast includes Warren William, Alice Brady, Elizabeth Patterson, and Lyle Talbot...
(with Mae West) (1936) - Adventure in DiamondsAdventure in DiamondsAdventure in Diamonds is a 1940 American crime film directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring George Brent, Isa Miranda, John Loder and Nigel Bruce...
(1940)