Biography for
Elizabeth Patterson (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

22 November 1875, Savannah, Tennessee, USA

Date of Death

31 January 1966, Los Angeles, California, USA (pneumonia)

Birth Name

Mary Elizabeth Patterson

Nickname

Patty

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

A dainty but nevertheless feisty character actress, southern-bred Elizabeth Patterson started her career over her strict parent's objections and became a member of Chicago's Ben Greet Players, performing Shakespeare at the turn of the century. This followed college at Martin College where she studied music, elocution and English, and post-graduate work at Columbia Institute in Columbia, Tennessee. She eventually traveled in stock tours and moved to Broadway where she was seen throughout the 20s. By the time she moved into films, she was 51 years of age. Known for her drab, careworn, dressed-down appearances, she played small-town relatives, avid gossips, steadfast country women, persnickety town folk and other prickly pear types with great frequency, while adding greatly to the atmosphere of such films as A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Doctor Bull (1933), So Red the Rose (1935), Remember the Night (1940), Tobacco Road (1941), Hail the Conquering Hero (1941), and Out of the Blue (1948). It was in the 50s, however, that she became a familiar household face as Lucille Ball's fragile, elderly neighbor and part-time babysitter, Mrs. Trumball, on the "I Love Lucy" series. Elizabeth died in 1966 of pneumonia at age 90.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Trivia

Daughter of Confederate soldier 'E. D. Patterson' who served in Co. D, 9th Alabama Inf.

Daughter of a Confederate soldier, E.D. Patterson, who later became a judge.

Selected by writer Booth Tarkington personally to perform in his Broadway production of "The Intimate Strangers" in 1921.

Miss Patterson was also asked by novelist William Faulkner to play the elderly female lead in the movie made of his book, "Intruder In the Dust."

Personal Quotes

Live television is the hardest work I ever did and I was a nervous wreck. You really have no time for learning and rehearsals. Swallowing the play whole, hanging on and just hoping that you will come on in the right place and say the right thing.