May 5 - Pat Carroll

Image courtesy imdb.com

On this day, in 1927, Patricia Ann Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. When she was five, Pat’s family moved to Los Angeles, California and it wasn’t long before she was appearing in local stage productions. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, spent some time in the United States Army Special Services as a civilian actress technician entertaining the troops just after World War II, returned to the United States and began classes at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. All that and she wasn’t even twenty yet.

Pat’s first professional gig was playing opposite Gloria Swanson in a stock theater production of A Goose for the Gander in 1947. Over the next eight years, she would play dozens of roles in various productions on her journey to a Broadway debut. Her first time treading the boards of the Great White Way came as part of the cast of the 1955 musical revue Catch a Star. Pat was so captivating  in the show, she earned herself a Tony nomination.

Image courtesy youtube.com

Around the same time, Pat began her decades long television career, making her small screen debut on The Red Buttons Show. In 1956, she won an Emmy award for her appearance on Caesar’s Hour, with national treasures Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner. After that you couldn’t keep her out of your living room. She became a regular on comedy/variety shows like The Danny Thomas Show. She became a staple on games shows throughout the Sixties and Seventies (I can’t remember which one I’ve seen her on, To Tell the Truth maybe, but it was one of those black and white panel shows where the big prize was $20 and a carton of cigarettes). Pat was a triumphant guest star on everything from The Carol Burnett Show to Laverne and Shirley (as Shirley Feeney’s mom) to three seasons on She’s the Sheriff (as Suzanne Somer’s mom).

In 1979, Pat made a stunning return to the stage in a one-woman show, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein. She earned rave reviews during the show’s run in and around New York and took it on the road for four years afterwards. In 1980, she won a Grammy award for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama for her recording of the piece and the Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Play.

In the mid Eighties, Pat began a new phase of her career as a voice actress. She was Katrina Stoneheart on Pound Puppies and Ms. Biddy McBrain on Galaxy High School. In 1987, she brought to life one of my favorite cartoon characters of all time: Grandma in A Garfield Christmas Special. If you haven’t ever had the pleasure to see it, hop on over to iTunes and check it out. A Garfield Christmas runs neck and neck with A Charlie Brown Christmas in my own personal race for best Christmas special ever. And that’s in large part due to Grandma and her dueling shenanigans and sentimentality. Lorenzo Music (who was profiled just the other day) is pretty good as Garfield, too.

Image copyright Disney

Pat joined the Disney family by helping to launch the Disney Renaissance in 1989 as one of the greatest Disney villains of all time: Ursula the Sea Witch (that's spelled with a B). Believe it or not, Pat was not the first choice of the directors, Ron Clements and John Musker, for the deliciously evil octopus, Bea Arthur was. Bea turned it down and they went through a whole list of other people, eventually casting Elaine Stritch, who clashed with Howard Ashman and Alan Menken over the musical style and was finally replaced with Pat (who in retrospect should have had the role all along). The greatest part of Ursula over the years is that no matter where you hear her, be it on film, in a video game or as part of the puppet extravaganza currently playing at the Hollywood Studios, you are hearing Pat. She is (so far), the one and only voice of behind Ursula. Someday that won't be the case, but we aren't going to think about that right now.

Image courtesy richmond.com

Pat made a few other contributions to Disneyana over the years, too. She was the voice of Morgana, Ursula's vengeful younger sister, in The Little Mermaid II, Koo-Koo in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and, just last year, Old Lady Crowley on Tangled: The Series. 

In between all her animated work, Pat returned to the stage several times. She lent her talents and charm to productions of Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Nunsense and Mother Courage and Her Children. She also turned to directing, helming runs of Alice in Wonderland, Noel Coward's Private Lives and George Furth's The Supporting Cast. Nowadays, she does what so many popular voice actors do, she makes the rounds of comic cons, greeting hordes of adoring fans. I've never been to one myself (shocking, I know) but the next time she's in town, I just may have to make the trip to see the woman who brought me not one, but two of my favorite characters. In the meantime, happy 92nd birthday Pat!