Elizabeth Patterson

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.

Early years Born in Savannah, Tennessee, she was the child of Mildred (née McDougal) and Edmund D. Patterson, a Confederate army veteran. Federal census records document that her father by 1880 was a lawyer and residing with his wife and children in the home of his father-in-law, Garrick Archibald McDougal, a widower, who was also a lawyer and farmer in Savannah.

After returning from Europe, Patterson used money from a small inheritance to move to Chicago. There she joined a theatrical troupe and subsequently toured with repertory companies.

1917 Comedy Theatre

1917 Comedy Theatre

1918 Princess Theatre

1919 Punch and Judy Theatre

1920 Old Ursula Fulton Theatre

1921-1922 Aunt Ellen Henry Miller Theatre Starring production for Billie BurkeProduced by Florence Ziegfeldwritten by Booth Tarkington

1922-1923 Froggy Broadhurst Theatre

1923 Madame Rumford Liberty Theatre

1924 Mary Blake 49th Street Theatre

1924 Rebecca Fanning Vanderbilt Theatre

1925 Mrs. Harper Comedy Theatre

1926 The Queen Nora Bayes Theatre

1927 Mrs. Underwood Earl Carroll Theatre

1927-1928 Margaret, Mrs. Elder 48th Street Theatre

1928 Aunt Mary Marston Theatre Masque

1928 Mrs. Roxie Biggers Biltmore Theatre

1928 Mrs. Slocum Hayes Theater

1929 Caroline Reid Booth Theatre

1929 Minnie Jordan Biltmore Theatre

1930 Geneva Lyceum Theatre

1933-1934 Mrs. Martin Plymouth Theatre

1934 Clementina Lynch Plymouth Theatre

1942 Miz Bekins Longacre Theatre

1944 Amy Griggs 48th Street Theatre

1954 Avis 48th Street Theatre

Film In 1926, at the age of 51, Patterson was cast in her first movie, a silent film, The Boy Friend.

1926 Fox Film

1928 20-minute short significant as the film debut of Humphrey Bogart Paramount Pictures Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

1929 Town Gossip Vitaphone short

1929 Fox Film

1929 Sarah Fox Film

1930 Fox Film Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

1930 Susan Universal Pictures

1930 Fox Film

1930 Fox Film

1931 (uncredited) Paramount Pictures Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

1931 Teacher (uncredited) Warner Bros.

1931 Paramount Pictures

1931 Fox Film

1931 Paramount Pictures

1931 Aunt Vergie Universal Pictures

1932 Aunty Doe MGM

1932 First National Pictures

1932 Paramount Pictures

1932 Hester RKO Radio Pictures

1932 Warner Bros.

1932 , Lois' secretary Warner Bros.

1932 First Aunt Paramount PicturesPreserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

1932 Paramount Pictures

1932 Mrs. Tebbit (uncredited) Warner Bros.

1932 Cora Pugmire Sono Art-World Wide Pictures

1932 Juliet Mitchell First National Pictures

1932 Mrs. Tubby (uncredited) First National Pictures

1932 Roger's Landlady (uncredited) RKO Radio Pictures

1932 Aunt Lizzie Universal Pictures

1933 Elinor's Aunt Fox Film Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

1933 Aunt Jennie Paramount Pictures

1933 Miss Tuttle MGM

1933 Mary, the cook Universal Pictures

1933 Miss Copeland MGM

1933 Aunt Patricia Banning Fox Film

1933 Lydia Paramount Pictures

1933 Clara Tuttle, Canteen Worker (uncredited) Warner Bros.

1934 'Ma' Miller MGM

1935 Mlle. Prefere RKO Radio Pictures

1935 Mary Cherry Paramount Pictures

1935 Aunt Ella Paramount Pictures

1936 Mrs. Ellie Martin Walter Wanger Productions

1936 Vilda Cummins Paramount Pictures

1936 Ma Brannan MGM

1936 Araminta Sedley Paramount Pictures

1936 Wilma Chester Paramount Pictures

1936 Mrs. Sarah Hutchins MGM

1936 Aunt Kate Barnaby Paramount Pictures

1937 Mrs. Tobias Greene Paramount Pictures

1937 Grandma Cortlandt Paramount Pictures

1937 Grandma Stackpole Paramount Pictures

1937 Mrs. Elvira Ward Paramount Pictures

1938 Ada Smith Paramount Pictures

1938 Aunt Blanche Clavering Paramount Pictures

1938 Aunt Hedwige Paramount Pictures

1938 Mrs. Daisy Beebe aka Mother Beebe Paramount Pictures

1938 Grandmother Lee Paramount Pictures

1939 Aunt Blanche Clavering Paramount Pictures

1939 Mrs. Mac Gregor 20th Century Fox

1939 Aunt Blanche Clavering Paramount Pictures

1939 Aunt Tillie Paramount Pictures

1939 Aunt Susan Paramount Pictures

1939 Mrs. Perkins MGM

1940 Aunt Emma Paramount Pictures Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

1940 Nellie Paramount Pictures

1940 Becky Tilden 20th Century Fox

1940 Rebecca RKO Radio Pictures

1940 Aunt Maggie Ambler Republic Pictures

1940 Aunt Olivia 20th Century Fox

1941 Ada Lester 20th Century Fox

1941 Aunt Lily Lou Bethany Paramount Pictures

1941 Sarah 20th Century Fox

1942 Grandma MGM

1942 Aunt Matilda Manning Universal Pictures

1942 Mrs. Daly Paramount Pictures

1942 Eva MGM

1942 Grandma Sherwood Columbia Pictures

1942 Annabelle Dinwiddie Columbia Pictures

1942 Margaret Paramount Pictures

1943 Mrs. Fisher RKO Radio Pictures

1944 Annie Universal Pictures

1944 Aunt Martha Paramount Pictures

1944 Jessie Columbia Pictures

1945 Aunt Charlotte Waring Universal Pictures

1946 Cousin Emma 20th Century Fox

1946 Mrs. Stover MGM

1946 Mrs. Sompter Republic Pictures Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive

1947 Mrs. Gilley Paramount Pictures

1947 Miss Spring Eagle-Lion Films

1947 Catherine Dennison 20th Century Fox

1948 Cora Paramount Pictures

1949 Mrs. Beecham Paramount Pictures

1949 Hannah MGM

1949 Miss Eunice Habersham 1949 premiere-1950 general releaseMGM

1950 Tabitha Singleton Warner Bros.

1951 Aunt Priscilla Wakely Universal Pictures

1952 Miss Dee MGM

1955 Mary Raff William F. Broidy Pictures

1957 Mrs. Casey Columbia Pictures

1959 Maria Cooper 20th Century Fox

1960 Connie Warner Bros.

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". In that installment, Patterson's character, Mrs. Willoughby, is married to the Greenwich, Connecticut, justice of the peace (played by character actor Irving Bacon) who remarries Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. In that role, she most notably sings an off-key version of "I Love You Truly" during the wedding ceremony.

April 20, 1953 Mrs. Matilda Trumbull

May 11, 1953 Mrs. Trumbull

June 29, 1953 Mrs. Trumbull

November 30, 1953 Mrs. Trumbull

October 4, 1954 Mrs. Trumbull

November 8, 1954 Mrs. Trumbull

January 10, 1955 Mrs. Trumbull

November 7, 1955 Mrs. Trumbull

October 8, 1956 Mrs. Trumbull

Personal life and death 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.