Patricia Morison

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Patricia Morison 1939

Eileen Patricia Augusta Fraser Morison (born March 19, 1915 in New York City , New York - † May 20, 2018 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress .

Life

Born in 1915 to the dramatist and casual actor William Morison, who immigrated from Ireland , and to British mother Selena, she grew up on the Lower East Side of New York and attended the Art Students League of New York . She received her first engagements on Broadway as an understudy in theater plays from 1933.

Discovered by a scout, her film career began to be mixed. After her feature film debut with Persons in Hiding in 1939, she initially played in mediocre productions and left Paramount after three years to work as a freelancer. Among other things, she toured during the Second World War for the United Service Organizations as a troop support in the United Kingdom. There she trained her voice further. In Hollywood, however, the film offers for Morison remained mostly moderate, she was often seen as a femme fatale or love rival of the leading actress. She played the French Empress Eugenie in the Oscar-winning Franz Werfel film Das Lied von Bernadette (1944) and starred in Too Klug für die Liebe (1945) with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy . In 1946 she appeared in the Sherlock Holmes film Hunting for Music Boxes as the criminal opponent of Basil Rathbone . Patricia Morison has long been considered the woman with the longest hair in Hollywood.

From 1948 the actress with the mezzo-soprano voice with the lead role of Lilli Vanessi in the original performance of Cole Porter's Kiss me Kate started a musical career. Cole Porter had heard Morison sing in Hollywood and decided to give her the lead female role on his new show "Kiss Me, Kate". Morison became a star on Broadway through her role as Lilli Vanessi . "Kiss Me, Kate" played songs like "I Hate Men," "Wunderbar," and "So in Love," and brought Morison back together with her former Broadway co-star, Alfred Drake . The play ran from December 30, 1948 to July 28, 1951 on Broadway , with a total of 1,077 performances. Morison also starred in the London production of Kiss Me, Kate , which ran for 400 performances.

In February 1954, Morison took on the role of Anna Leonowens in the Rodgers & Hammerstein production of The King and I , in which Yul Brynner played the lead role as King of Siam. The musical premiered in 1951, originally with Gertrude Lawrence as Leonowens. Lawrence was later replaced by Celeste Holm , Constance Carpenter , Annamary Dickey and finally Morison, who appeared in The King and I until Broadway closed on March 20, 1954. Subsequently, the production continued on the National Tour, which included a break at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera (from May 5, 1954). She played the role at the Municipal Theater in St. Louis , Missouri ; Production opened on June 11, 1959. Patricia Morison did not return to the cinema, except for small guest roles. In addition to the musical (including The Sound of Music , 1972) , she followed her further career on television, most recently as a guest star in the television series Cheers in 1989 .

Patricia Morison last lived in Los Angeles and celebrated her 100th birthday in March 2015. She died in May 2018 at the age of 103.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Patricia Morison  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruce Eder: Patricia Morison | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. In: AllMovie . Retrieved May 20, 2018 .
  2. ↑ On This Day in History: March 19: Talent Wasted On Hollywood. In: Brooklyn Eagle . March 19, 2008, archived from the original on July 8, 2011 ; accessed on May 21, 2018 (English).
  3. ↑ Kiss Me, Kate. Retrieved May 16, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Who's Who in Musicals: Additional Bios IV. Accessed May 16, 2019 .
  5. ^ C. E Foster: Patricia Morison- 100th Birthday Celebration. (Video, 1:12 hours) In: YouTube. Retrieved May 21, 2018 . Susan King: Actress Patricia Morison reminisces as 100th birthday nears. In: Los Angeles Times . March 7, 2015, accessed May 21, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Emmeline Saunders: Patricia Morison dead aged 103: Kiss Me, Kate star of Hollywood dies after 80 years on stage and screen. In: Daily Mirror . May 20, 2018, accessed May 20, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Morison, Patricia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morison, Eileen Patricia Augusta Fraser (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH 20th May 2018
Place of death Los Angeles , California