Patty McCormack
Encyclopedia
Patty McCormack is an American actress with a career in theater, films and television.
She achieved success as a child actress, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for her performance in The Bad Seed
(1956). Her acting career has continued with supporting roles in film and television, including a more recent performance as Pat Nixon
in Frost/Nixon
(2008).
, New York
, the daughter of Elizabeth (née
McCormack), a professional roller skater
, and Frank Russo, a fireman. She attended New Utrecht H.S. She is an aunt of fellow actor and New York City
lawmaker Alfred Cerullo
.
She was a child model at the age of four and began appearing on television
at the age of seven. She made her motion picture debut in Two Gals and a Guy (1951) and appeared in the television series Mama
from 1953 to 1956.
Her Broadway
debut was in Touchstone (1953), and following this, she portrayed Rhoda Penmark
, an eight-year-old sociopath
and fledgling serial killer
, in The Bad Seed
(1954). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for her role in the film version, The Bad Seed
(1956).
McCormack briefly starred in her own series, Peck's Bad Girl in 1959.
She married restaurateur Bob Catania in 1967, and they had two children before their marriage was dissolved. After a half-dozen teen roles during the 1960s, her film career declined but she continued to work in television. In 1970 she played Linda Warren on the soap opera
The Best of Everything
. She guest starred on The Streets of San Francisco
, Season 2, episode Blockade. She resumed her cinema career with Bug in 1975.
She continued to act in secondary roles, mostly in television with occasional film appearances. She had recurring roles in popular television series, including The Ropers
, Dallas
, Murder, She Wrote
and The Sopranos
. When Kathryn Hays
left the CBS soap opera As the World Turns
for an extended period of time, McCormack took Hays' role until she returned.
In 2008, McCormack played First Lady Pat Nixon
in the feature film Frost/Nixon
.
Her most recent film appearance was in the Hallmark Channel presentation of "Citizen Jane" (2009) starring Ally Sheedy, Sean Patrick Flannery and Meat Loaf.
Her star on the Walk of Fame is at 6312 Hollywood Boulevard.
McCormack was a guest for the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention where her films were screened, and she received an award during the closing ceremonies.
She achieved success as a child actress, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her performance in The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed (film)
The Bad Seed is a 1956 American horror-thrillerfilm directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It is based upon a play by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed. The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of the film...
(1956). Her acting career has continued with supporting roles in film and television, including a more recent performance as Pat Nixon
Pat Nixon
Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States, and was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974. She was commonly known as Patricia or Pat Nixon.Born in Nevada, Pat Ryan grew up in Los Angeles, California...
in Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon (film)
Frost/Nixon is a 2008 historical drama film based on the 2006 play by Peter Morgan which dramatizes the Frost/Nixon interviews of 1977. The film was directed by Ron Howard and produced for Universal Pictures by Howard, Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working...
(2008).
Life and career
McCormack was born Patricia Ellen Russo in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
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...
, the daughter of Elizabeth (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
McCormack), a professional roller skater
Roller skating
Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...
, and Frank Russo, a fireman. She attended New Utrecht H.S. She is an aunt of fellow actor and 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...
lawmaker Alfred Cerullo
Alfred Cerullo
Alfred C. "Fred" Cerullo, III is an actor and Republican Party lawmaker and government official from New York City.-Biography:Cerullo, one of the most successful, and high profile chief executives on the New York City political and business scene, usually spends his spare time pursuing a theatrical...
.
She was a child model at the age of four and began appearing on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
at the age of seven. She made her motion picture debut in Two Gals and a Guy (1951) and appeared in the television series Mama
Mama (TV series)
Mama is a weekly Maxwell House-sponsored CBS television comedy-drama series which ran from July 1, 1949 until March 17, 1957.Based on the Kathryn Forbes memoir Mama's Bank Account, which was also adapted for the 1944 John Van Druten play and subsequent 1948 film I Remember Mama, it told the...
from 1953 to 1956.
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 was in Touchstone (1953), and following this, she portrayed Rhoda Penmark
Rhoda Penmark
Rhoda Penmark is a fictional character in William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed and the stage play adapted from it by Maxwell Anderson. She was portrayed by Patty McCormack in the 1956 film adaptation and by Carrie Wells in the 1985 made for TV remake....
, an eight-year-old sociopath
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
and fledgling serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
, in The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed (play)
The Bad Seed was a successful and long-running Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson adapted from the novel of that name by William March, and was in turn adapted by John Lee Mahin into an Academy Award-nominated film of the same name directed by Mervyn Leroy. Staged by Reginald Denham, it opened...
(1954). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her role in the film version, The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed (film)
The Bad Seed is a 1956 American horror-thrillerfilm directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It is based upon a play by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed. The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of the film...
(1956).
McCormack briefly starred in her own series, Peck's Bad Girl in 1959.
She married restaurateur Bob Catania in 1967, and they had two children before their marriage was dissolved. After a half-dozen teen roles during the 1960s, her film career declined but she continued to work in television. In 1970 she played Linda Warren on the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
The Best of Everything
The Best of Everything
The Best of Everything is the first novel by Rona Jaffe. It is the story of five young employees of a New York publishing company.-Adaptions:...
. She guest starred on The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
, Season 2, episode Blockade. She resumed her cinema career with Bug in 1975.
She continued to act in secondary roles, mostly in television with occasional film appearances. She had recurring roles in popular television series, including The Ropers
The Ropers
The Ropers is an American sitcom that ran from March 13, 1979 to May 22, 1980 on ABC. The series is a spinoff of Three's Company and based on the British sitcom George and Mildred...
, Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
and The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. When Kathryn Hays
Kathryn Hays
Kathryn Hays is an American actress. She was born in Princeton, Illinois and grew up in Joliet, Illinois.In the 1966-1967 television season, Hays appeared as Elizabeth Reynolds Pride in the NBC western series The Road West, with co-stars Barry Sullivan, Andrew Prine, Kelly Corcoran, and Glenn...
left the CBS soap opera As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
for an extended period of time, McCormack took Hays' role until she returned.
In 2008, McCormack played First Lady Pat Nixon
Pat Nixon
Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States, and was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974. She was commonly known as Patricia or Pat Nixon.Born in Nevada, Pat Ryan grew up in Los Angeles, California...
in the feature film Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon (film)
Frost/Nixon is a 2008 historical drama film based on the 2006 play by Peter Morgan which dramatizes the Frost/Nixon interviews of 1977. The film was directed by Ron Howard and produced for Universal Pictures by Howard, Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working...
.
Her most recent film appearance was in the Hallmark Channel presentation of "Citizen Jane" (2009) starring Ally Sheedy, Sean Patrick Flannery and Meat Loaf.
Awards
In addition to her Oscar nomination, McCormack also received a Golden Globe nomination for The Bad Seed. In 1956, she received the Milky Way Gold Star Award as the most outstanding juvenile performer.Her star on the Walk of Fame is at 6312 Hollywood Boulevard.
McCormack was a guest for the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention where her films were screened, and she received an award during the closing ceremonies.
Filmography
- Two Gals and a Guy (1951)
- Here Comes the Groom (1951)
- The Bad SeedThe Bad Seed (film)The Bad Seed is a 1956 American horror-thrillerfilm directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It is based upon a play by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed. The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of the film...
(1956) - The Snow QueenThe Snow Queen (1957 film)The Snow Queen is a 1957 Soviet animated film directed by Lev Atamanov. It was produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow and is based on the story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen...
(1957) (voice in 1959 English version) - All Mine to GiveAll Mine to GiveAll Mine to Give is a 1957 melodrama film starring Glynis Johns, Cameron Mitchell, and Rex Thompson. When first one parent, then the other dies, six children have to look after themselves in the American west of the mid 19th century...
(1957) - Kathy O (1958)
- Escuela de verano (1959)
- Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, episode "Make Me Not a Witch"
- The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960 film)The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a 1960 film directed by Michael Curtiz.Based on the famous Mark Twain novel of the same name, it was the third sound film version of the story and the second filmed by MGM...
(1960) - The Explosive GenerationThe Explosive GenerationThe Explosive Generation is a 1961 film directed by Buzz Kulik. It stars William Shatner and Patty McCormack.-Cast:*William Shatner as Peter Gifford*Patty McCormack as Janet Sommers*Lee Kinsolving as Dan Carlyle*Billy Gray as Bobby Herman Jr....
(1961) - JacktownJacktownJacktown is a 1962 American film directed by William Martin.- Cast :*Patty McCormack as Margaret*Richard Meade as Frances "Frankie" Stossel*George Taylor as Himself*Douglas Rutherford as Warden*Russ Paquette as Vince "Vinnie"*Mike Tancredi as Mike...
(1962) - Maryjane (1968)
- The Mini-Skirt MobThe Mini-Skirt MobThe Mini-Skirt Mob is a 1968 action film about a female motorcycle gang. The film was directed by Maury Dexter, and stars Patty McCormack, Harry Dean Stanton, Diane McBain and Sandra Marshall....
(1968) - The Young Animals (1968
- The Young RunawaysThe Young RunawaysThe Young Runaways is a 1968 teen-exploitation film that stars Brooke Bundy, Kevin Coughlin and Patty McCormack. The supporting players are Lloyd Bochner, Dick Sergeant and in one of his earliest roles Richard Dreyfuss, has a small part as Terry, a juvenile delinquent who meets a bad end...
(1968) - BugBug (1975 film)Bug is a 1975 American horror film starring Bradford Dillman, Joanna Miles, and Richard Gilliland. It was directed by Jeannot Szwarc and written by William Castle and Thomas Page, from Page's 1973 novel The Hephaestus Plague...
(1975) - The Awakening of Cassie (1982)
- Night Partners (1983)
- Invitation to Hell (1984)
- Private Road: No Trespassing (1987)
- Saturday the 14th Strikes BackSaturday the 14th Strikes BackSaturday the 14th Strikes Back is a 1988 comic-horror film, directed by Howard R. Cohen and produced by Julie Corman. It is a sequel to Saturday the 14th....
(1988) - The Flamingo KidThe Flamingo KidThe Flamingo Kid is a 1984 comedy film directed by Garry Marshall, written by Marshall, Neal Marshall and Bo Goldman. It stars Matt Dillon, Richard Crenna, Hector Elizondo, and Janet Jones...
(1984) - MommyMommy (film)Mommy is a 1995 low budget thriller starring Patty McCormack as a mother who is psychotically obsessed with her 12-year-old daughter Jessica Ann, Rachel Lemieux. McCormack is best known for her role as Rhoda Penmark in the 1956 movie The Bad Seed....
(1995) - Mommy's DayMommy 2: Mommy's DayMommy 2: Mommy's Day is a 1997 low budget sequel to the 1995 thriller Mommy starring Patty McCormack once again as the psychotically obsessed mother who is trying to reunite with her daughter.-Plot:...
(1997) (aka Mommy 2: Mommy's Day) - Silent Predators (1999)
- The Silencing (2000)
- The Medicine Show (2001)
- Acceptable Risk (2001)
- Choosing Matthias (2001)
- The KissThe Kiss (2003 film)The Kiss is a 2003 film starring Francoise Surel, Eliza Dushku, Terence Stamp, and Billy Zane. It tells the story of a book editor who is entranced by a certain old manuscript about a romance...
(2003) - The Silvergleam Whistle
- Inhabited (2003)
- TargetTarget (2004 film)-Plot:Charlie Snow was a highly decorated war hero, a sniper who never placed emotion before the mission. Except once. Providing cover for an undercover arms dealer sting operation, he was forced into a predicament, as through his scope he saw a hostage crisis unfold.The decision he made cost his...
(2004) - Shallow GroundShallow GroundShallow Ground is a 2004 Horror film written and directed by Sheldon Wilson and starring Timothy V. Murphy, Stan Kirsch, Lindsey Stoddart, Patty McCormack, and Rocky Marquette. A naked teenage boy appears at a soon-to-be abandoned sheriff's station, drenched in blood, on the one-year anniversary...
(2004) - Gone, But Not ForgottenGone, But Not ForgottenGone, But Not Forgotten is a 1993 novel written by attorney Phillip Margolin and set in Portland, Oregon. In 2004 the book was adapted to a television mini-series starring Brooke Shields as Betsy Tannenbaum and Lou Diamond Phillips as Alan Page...
(2004) - Mystery Woman: Snapshot (2005)
- Heart of the BeholderHeart of the BeholderHeart of the Beholder is a 2005 drama film that was written and directed by Ken Tipton. It is based on Tipton's own experience as the owner of a chain of videocassette rental stores in the 1980s. Tipton and his family had opened the first videocassette rental stores in St. Louis in 1980...
(2005) - SethSethSeth , in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who are the only other of their children mentioned by name...
(2006) - In the Wall (2007)
- Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre! (2007)
- Frost/NixonFrost/Nixon (film)Frost/Nixon is a 2008 historical drama film based on the 2006 play by Peter Morgan which dramatizes the Frost/Nixon interviews of 1977. The film was directed by Ron Howard and produced for Universal Pictures by Howard, Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working...
(2008) - A Christmas Proposal (2008)
- Private Practice (2009)
- Desperate HousewivesDesperate HousewivesDesperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
(2010)
Further reading
- Rigdon, Walter (ed.) The Biographical Encyclopedia of Who's Who of the American Theatre. New York: James H. Heineman, Inc. c1966.
- "Patty McCormack." Biography Resource Center. Thomson Gale. February 15, 2005.