Cast
Elizabeth Patterson
Acting
Cast
Elizabeth Patterson
Known for
Acting
Born
1874-11-21
From
Savannah, Tennessee, USA
Died
1966-01-31
Also known as Mary Elizabeth Patterson
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mary Elizabeth Patterson (November 22, 1874 – January 31, 1966) was an American theatre, film, and television character actress who gained popular recognition late in her career playing the elderly neighbor Matilda Trumbull on the television comedy series I Love Lucy. In 1926, at the age of 51, Patterson was cast in her first movie, a silent film, The Boy Friend. Transitioning successfully into the era of "talkies", she remained a very busy actress in Hollywood throughout the 1930s, averaging more than five films a year during that decade, usually in supporting roles. A few of her screen credits at that time include Tarnished Lady; Husband's Holiday; A Bill of Divorcement; So Big!; The Story of Temple Drake; Hold Your Man; Dinner at Eight; High, Wide, and Handsome; and No Man of Her Own. She also appeared in the role of Susan in two adaptations of John Willard's popular play The Cat and the Canary: The Cat Creeps in 1930 and The Cat and the Canary in 1939. Patterson continued to perform frequently in the 1940s, when she was cast in more than 30 additional films. Among her notable roles is her 1949 portrayal of the heroic character Eunice Habersham in the groundbreaking racial crime drama Intruder in the Dust, a film based on the William Faulkner novel of the same name and set in the Deep South. Although she would appear in a few more feature films in the 1950s, such as Washington Story and Pal Joey, Patterson by then began to focus her work increasingly on roles in the rapidly expanding medium of television. In 1952, at the age of 77, Patterson made her first appearance on the hit CBS-TV sitcom I Love Lucy in the episode "The Marriage License". Her character on I Love Lucy proved to be so popular among viewers, as well as useful to the writers of the series, that she continued in the role for three more years, often serving in episode storylines as a convenient babysitter for "Little Ricky". Prior to, during, and after her work on I Love Lucy, Patterson appeared in many other American television series during the 1950s and early 1960s. Her first credited performance on the "small screen" was in March 1950 in "The Walking Stick", a teleplay on the NBC anthology series The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre. During the 11 years after that initial televised performance to her final role on television in 1961, she portrayed characters in a variety of other series, including Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, Studio One in Hollywood, General Electric Theater, Stage 7, Lux Video Theatre, Crossroads, The Star and the Story, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, Adventures of Superman, New York Confidential, 77 Sunset Strip, Johnny Stacatto, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Playhouse 90, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, and The New Breed. Patterson, who never married, lived at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel during her 35-year film and television career.. On January 31, 1966, she died at age 91 in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia. Her gravesite is in Savannah Cemetery in her hometown in Tennessee.
★7.4
MOVIE1949
Little Women
as Hannah
★6.6
MOVIE1932
Love Me Tonight
as First Aunt
★7.1
MOVIE1938
Bluebeard's 8th Wife
as Aunt Hedwige
★6.9
MOVIE1947
Welcome Stranger
as Mrs. Gilley
★6.9
MOVIE1942
I Married a Witch
as Margaret
★6.5
MOVIE1936
Her Master's Voice
as Mrs. Ellie Martin
★5.9
MOVIE1941
Belle Starr
as Sarah
★6.5
MOVIE1946
I've Always Loved You
as Mrs. Sompter
★9.0
MOVIE1931
Husband's Holiday
as Mrs. Caroline Reid
★7.7
MOVIE1935
So Red the Rose
as Mary Cherry
★5.5
MOVIE1932
Man Wanted
as Miss Harper
★7.0
MOVIE1930
The Cat Creeps
as Susan
★7.0
MOVIE1933
Infernal Machine
as Elinor's Aunt
★10.0
MOVIE1937
Night of Mystery
as Mrs. Tobias Greene
★5.7
MOVIE1959
The Oregon Trail
as Maria Cooper
★6.7
MOVIE1945
Lady on a Train
as Aunt Charlotte Waring
MOVIE1956
Rendezvous in Black
as Mrs. Middleton
★6.8
MOVIE1941
Tobacco Road
as Ada Lester
★7.3
MOVIE1940
Remember the Night
as Aunt Emma "Emmie"
★4.9
MOVIE1942
Her Cardboard Lover
as Eva
★6.3
MOVIE1939
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
as Mrs. MacGregor
★5.9
MOVIE1932
Miss Pinkerton
as Juliet Mitchell
★6.5
MOVIE1941
Kiss the Boys Goodbye
as Aunt Lily Lou Bethany
★6.0
MOVIE1936
Small Town Girl
as Ma Brannan
★6.2
MOVIE1937
High, Wide and Handsome
as Grandma Cortlandt
★6.2
MOVIE1939
Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police
as Aunt Blanche
★6.3
MOVIE1932
A Bill of Divorcement
as Aunt Hester Fairfield
★5.6
MOVIE1933
Secret of the Blue Room
as Mary, Cook
★5.7
MOVIE1960
Tall Story
as Connie
★7.3
MOVIE1950
Katie Did It
as Aunt Priscilla Wakely
★7.5
MOVIE1928
The Dancing Town
as Ma Pepperall
★6.7
MOVIE1933
Doctor Bull
as Aunt Patricia Banning
★6.8
MOVIE1933
Dinner at Eight
as Miss Copeland
★5.9
MOVIE1950
Bright Leaf
as Tabitha Singleton
★7.3
MOVIE1949
Intruder in the Dust
as Miss Eunice Habersham
★6.9
MOVIE1939
The Cat and the Canary
as Aunt Susan
★6.6
MOVIE1932
No Man of Her Own
as Mrs. Randall
★10.0
MOVIE1929
Words and Music
as Dean Crockett
★5.5
MOVIE1939
Bad Little Angel
as Mrs. Perkins
★6.3
MOVIE1939
Bulldog Drummond's Bride
as Aunt Blanche
★6.0
MOVIE1942
Beyond the Blue Horizon
as Mrs. Daly
★5.7
MOVIE1932
So Big!
as Mrs. Tebbit (uncredited)
★7.1
MOVIE1944
Hail the Conquering Hero
as Martha - Libby's Aunt
★10.0
MOVIE1929
South Sea Rose
as Sarah
★6.3
MOVIE1933
Hold Your Man
as Miss Tuttle
★6.0
MOVIE1940
Anne of Windy Poplars
as Rebecca
★5.9
MOVIE1938
Bulldog Drummond's Peril
as Aunt Blanche
★4.5
MOVIE1932
New Morals for Old
as Aunty Doe
★5.5
MOVIE1936
Go West Young Man
as Aunt Kate Barnaby
★7.0
MOVIE1930
The Lone Star Ranger
as Sarah Martin
★6.5
MOVIE1933
Golden Harvest
as Lydia
★6.6
MOVIE1940
Michael Shayne: Private Detective
as Aunt Olivia
★6.3
MOVIE1948
Miss Tatlock's Millions
as Cora
★8.0
MOVIE1926
The Boy Friend
as Mrs. Harper
★6.4
MOVIE1947
Out of the Blue
as Miss Spring
★6.8
MOVIE1931
The Smiling Lieutenant
as Baroness Von Schwedel (uncredited)
★4.7
MOVIE1937
Hold 'Em Navy
as Grandma Holland
★9.0
MOVIE1942
Lucky Legs
as Annabelle Dinwiddie
★7.5
MOVIE1938
Sons of the Legion
as Grandmother Lee
★4.3
MOVIE1937
Night Club Scandal
as Mrs. Elvira Ward
★9.0
MOVIE1958
Portrait of a Murderer
as Mrs. Finch
★7.3
MOVIE1942
The Vanishing Virginian
as Grandma
★7.3
MOVIE1934
Hide-Out
as 'Ma' Miller
★7.0
MOVIE1949
Song of Surrender
as Mrs. Beecham
★6.0
MOVIE1940
Adventure in Diamonds
as Nellie
MOVIE1957
The Ninth Day
★6.3
MOVIE1957
Pal Joey
as Mrs. Casey
★6.7
MOVIE1932
Guilty as Hell
as Elvira Ward
★7.0
MOVIE1942
Almost Married
as Aunt Matilda Manning
★4.9
MOVIE1940
Earthbound
as Becky Tilden
★8.0
MOVIE1939
Our Leading Citizen
as Aunt Tillie
★6.0
MOVIE1932
They Call It Sin
as Mrs. Cullen
★8.8
MOVIE1947
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim
as Catherine Dennison
★6.5
MOVIE1933
The Story of Temple Drake
as Aunt Jennie
★6.2
MOVIE1932
Life Begins
as Mrs. Tubby (uncredited)
★5.7
MOVIE1944
Follow the Boys
as Annie
★7.0
MOVIE1931
Penrod and Sam
as Schoolteacher (uncredited)
★6.3
MOVIE1943
The Sky's the Limit
as Mrs. Fisher
★5.8
MOVIE1955
Las Vegas Shakedown
as Mary Raff
★5.0
MOVIE1955
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
as Aunt Polly
★5.5
MOVIE1940
Who Killed Aunt Maggie?
as Maggie Ambler
★7.3
MOVIE1932
The Expert
as Miss Crackenwald
★6.8
MOVIE1942
My Sister Eileen
as Grandma Sherwood
MOVIE1950
Little Women: Jo's Story
as Aunt March
★6.5
MOVIE1946
The Secret Heart
as Mrs. Stover
★7.5
MOVIE1953
Three Lives
as Mrs. Adams
★5.5
MOVIE1944
Together Again
as Jessie
★4.8
MOVIE1931
Daddy Long Legs
as Mrs. Lippett
★5.6
MOVIE1932
Boo
as Susan (edited from "The Cat Creeps")
★6.0
MOVIE1946
Colonel Effingham's Raid
as Cousin Emma
★7.0
MOVIE1952
Washington Story
as Miss Dee
★5.3
MOVIE1931
Heaven on Earth
as Vergie
★6.3
MOVIE1935
Men Without Names
as Ella Ferris
★8.0
MOVIE1938
Scandal Street
as Ada Smith
MOVIE1950
Little Women: Meg's Story
as Aunt March
★4.7
MOVIE1936
Timothy's Quest
as Vilda Cummins
★10.0
MOVIE1932
Breach of Promise
as Cora Pugmire
★7.0
MOVIE1938
Sing, You Sinners
as Mrs. Daisy Beebe aka Mother Beebe
★5.8
MOVIE1935
Chasing Yesterday
as Mlle. Prefere
★8.0
MOVIE1926
The Return of Peter Grimm
as Mrs. Bartholomey
★4.9
MOVIE1931
Tarnished Lady
as Mrs. Courtney
★8.0
MOVIE1930
Harmony at Home
as Emma Haller
★7.0
MOVIE1933
They Just Had to Get Married
as Lizzie
★6.8
MOVIE1936
The Return of Sophie Lang
as Araminta Sedley
★4.7
MOVIE1930
The Big Party
as Mrs. Goldfarb
★10.0
MOVIE1936
Old Hutch
as Sarah Hutchins