Today is the 102nd birthday of Neva Patterson. She was in some of my very favorite films. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.
NAME: Neva Patterson
DATE OF BIRTH: 10-Feb-1920
PLACE OF BIRTH: Nevada, IA
DATE OF DEATH: 14-Dec-2010
PLACE OF DEATH: Brentwood, CA
CAUSE OF DEATH: Complications from a broken hip.
FATHER: (letter carrier)
MOTHER: (seamstress)
BROTHER: Harlon
HUSBAND: Thomas Gallagher (div. 1948)
HUSBAND: Michael Ellis (m. 22-Mar-1952, separated 1954, div. 1956)
HUSBAND: James Henderson Lee (m. 15-Sep-1957, d. 2-Jul-2002, one daughter adopted, one son adopted)
DAUGHTER: Megan Lee (adopted)
SON: Filippo Quaretti-Lee (adopted)
Born on a farm near Nevada, Iowa, Patterson was the daughter of mailman George Patterson and seamstress Marjorie Byers Patterson. After graduating from Nevada High School in 1937, she worked as a secretary in Des Moines before she moved to New York in 1938 and initially worked as a secretary there.
Early in her career, Patterson acted on radio in Chicago and sang for dance bands.
She made her Broadway debut in 1947’s The Druid Circle. Her work on Broadway also included Romantic Comedy (1979), Make a Million (1958), Speaking of Murder (1956), Double in Hearts (1956), The Seven Year Itch (1952), Lace on Her Petticoat (1951), The Long Days (1951), Ring Round the Moon (1950), I Know My Love (1949), The Ivy Green (1949), and Strange Bedfellows (1948).
In 1952, she played Helen Sherman in The Seven Year Itch. Her first feature movie was Taxi (1953). Other film credits include The Buddy Holly Story, All of Me (1984), and An Affair to Remember (1957).
Patterson portrayed Ma Ketchum in Nichols, Maggie McCloud in The Governor & J.J., Ilene in the NBC drama Berringer’s, and Margaret Brimble in Doc Elliott on ABC. She also hosted the game show Manhattan Honeymoon on ABC. Her other television credits included Cagney and Lacey, in which she played Muriel Lacey, and as Eleanor Dupres in V, which she reprised in V: The Final Battle. She made guest appearances on Appointment with Adventure, The Defenders, Ben Casey, Maude, Ironside, Charlie’s Angels, Barnaby Jones, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Waltons, The Rockford Files, and St. Elsewhere.
Patterson initially married Thomas Gallagher, and they divorced in 1948. On March 22, 1953, she married Michael Ellis March; they divorced in 1956. She married James Lee on September 15, 1957, and they remained wed until he died in 2002.
On December 14, 2010, Patterson died from complications from a broken hip at age 90.
TELEVISION
St. Elsewhere Marguerite Spooner (1987)
Webster Emily Calder-Young (1984-85)
Nichols Ma Ketcham (1971-72)
The Governor and J. J. Maggie McLeod (1969-70)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Women of Valor (23-Nov-1986)
All of Me (21-Sep-1984)
Star 80 (10-Nov-1983) · Playboy Executive
V (1-May-1983)
The Rules of Marriage (10-May-1982)
The Buddy Holly Story (18-May-1978)
The Domino Principle (25-Jul-1977)
All the President’s Men (7-Apr-1976) · Angry Woman
The Stranger Who Looks Like Me (6-Mar-1974)
Skin Game (30-Sep-1971) · Mrs. Claggart
Counterpoint (19-Jan-1968)
Dear Heart (2-Dec-1964) · Connie
David and Lisa (26-Dec-1962) · Mrs. Clemens
The Spiral Road (3-Aug-1962)
Too Much, Too Soon (17-Apr-1958) · Blanche Oehlrichs
An Affair to Remember (2-Jul-1957) · Lois Clark
Desk Set (1-May-1957)
The Solid Gold Cadillac (22-Aug-1956) · Amelia Shotgraven
Taxi (21-Jan-1953)
Waldina 