Gail Patrick

Gail Patrick (born Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick; June 20, 1911 – July 6, 1980) was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 and 1948, notably My Man Godfrey, Stage Door (1937), and My Favorite Wife (1940).

After retiring from acting, she became, as Gail Patrick Jackson, president of Paisano Productions and executive producer of the Perry Mason television series (1957–1966). She was one of the first female producers, and the only female executive producer in prime time during the nine years Perry Mason was on the air. She served two terms (1960–1962) as vice president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and as president of its Hollywood chapter—the first woman to serve in a leadership capacity in the academy, and its only female leader until 1983.

Career Gail Patrick was born Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick on June 20, 1911, in Birmingham, Alabama. She completed two years of law school at the University of Alabama and aspired to be the state's governor. In 1932, "for a lark", she entered a Paramount Pictures beauty and talent contest, and won train fare to Hollywood for herself and her brother. Although she did not win the contest (for "Miss Panther Woman" in Island of Lost Souls starring Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi, 1932), Patrick was offered a standard contract. Film scholar Maria DiBattista called her "the underrated Gail Patrick, who excelled in feckless or selfish or simply second-best brunettes".

Patrick attributed her screen success to an accident of timing. When she arrived in Hollywood, the movie studios then wanted hussies, and they felt she looked like one. "I never thought I had much to do with it", Patrick recalled. "Somebody made me up, somebody did my hair, somebody told me what to say and do, and somebody took the picture".

Patrick was so uncomfortable in front of the camera that she made it a point to never see her films. In 1979, she screened a print of My Man Godfrey given to her by a friend, and she watched herself on screen for the first time. "My fright emerged as haughtiness and I can see where I got my image as a snob, a meanie", Patrick said. She and her third husband, Cornwell Jackson, adopted a daughter in 1952, and a son in 1954.

Cornwell Jackson was the literary agent for attorney-author Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of the fictional criminal defense attorney Perry Mason. After a series of disappointing Warner Bros. films and a radio series he despised, Gardner had refused to license the character for any more adaptations, but Patrick won the author's trust. She had maintained her network in show business and shared Gardner's love for the law. Patrick, Jackson, and Gardner formed a production company, Paisano Productions, of which she was president. Patrick developed the television series Perry Mason and sold it to CBS, where it ran for nine seasons (1957–66) and earned the first Silver Gavel Award presented for television drama by the American Bar Association. Gail Patrick Jackson was its executive producer. She was one of the first women producers.

Longtime CBS executive Anne Nelson, who handled contract negotiation and other business affairs for CBS, called Patrick "my adversary in business, but my friend in life". In a 2008 interview, Nelson reported that Patrick was the only female executive producer in prime time during the years Perry Mason was on the air. "Women today won't believe that things were that tough", Nelson said, "but Gail was alone in her bailiwick, and I was the only female executive not in personnel at CBS at the time". Nelson said that years later, Patrick told her she had written up the contract herself, and that it was so wild and favorable to Paisano Productions that she had no idea CBS would accept it. "But we bought it", Nelson said. "And it has been a very big financial success, not only for CBS, but [also] for the Paisano partners over this many years".

Patrick also developed a half-hour Paisano Productions series based on Gardner's Cool and Lam stories. A pilot directed by Jacques Tourneur aired on CBS in 1958, but a series did not materialize.

Patrick served two terms (1960–62) as vice president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and as president of its Hollywood chapter.

Personal life Her home, a gated estate of nearly seven acres on La Brea Terrace in Los Angeles, was occasionally a shooting location for Perry Mason, beginning with the third season. The mansion was built in 1911 for Dustin Farnum. Patrick purchased it from the estate of writer-producer Mark Hellinger after his death in December 1947.

Marriages and children

On December 17, 1936, Patrick married restaurateur Robert H. Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby An ardent baseball fan, she was called "Ma Patrick" To Hollywood's surprise, the Cobbs separated in October 1940 and were divorced in November 1941.

Patrick's patriotic service during World War II included four tours of Canada promoting Victory Loans, making her the only film star to visit the entire nation from coast to coast. On her return from a war bond tour, she met Lieutenant Arnold Dean White, a pilot in the U.S. Navy Naval Air Transport Service; they married on July 11, 1944. In June 1945, she gave premature birth to twins who soon died.

In July 1947, Patrick married her third husband, Thomas Cornwell Jackson, head of the Los Angeles office of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. She created a business designing clothing for children, and moved to a shop on Rodeo Drive Patrick ran the shop for eight years with considerable success. A failure with critics and in the Nielsen ratings, the series ran only 15 episodes. She had been treated for the disease for four years, but kept her illness secret from everyone but her husband. Samford University presents the Gail Patrick Directing Award in her honor.

In 1960, Patrick received the Mystery Writers of America's Raven Award for her contributions to the mystery genre as executive producer of Perry Mason.

In 1962, Patrick was named the Delta Zeta Woman of the Year. A member of the sorority at Howard College, Patrick was vice president of the first board of directors of the Delta Zeta Foundation. A $1 million bequest from the Gail Patrick Velde Trust established the sorority's Gail Patrick Women of Distinction Program, which provides undergraduate and graduate scholarships and the honorarium awarded to Delta Zeta alumnae designated as woman of the year, the organization's highest honor.

In 1970, Patrick was appointed national honorary chairman of the American Lung Association's Christmas Seals campaign.

In 1973, Patrick became the first national chairman of the American Diabetes Association board of directors. The Gail Patrick Innovation Award is presented by the organization in her honor, to advance research toward the prevention, treatment, and cure of diabetes.

The Gail Patrick Stage is a film soundstage that opened in 2008 at Columbia College Hollywood. Patrick was a member of the film school's board of trustees and funded the facility through her estate.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1932 If I Had a Million Secretary Film debut 1933 Mary Benton Foster Mama Loves Papa Unbilled bit part 1947 Calendar Girl Olivia Radford 1973–1974 TV series, Executive consultant August 16, 1937 1937 Shakespeare Festival "As You Like It" January 24, 1938 Lux Radio Theatre "Clarence" January 30, 1939 Lux Radio Theatre "The Arkansas Traveler" January 29, 1940 Lux Radio Theatre "Intermezzo" March 9, 1941 The Free Company "An American Crusader" April 28, 1941 Lux Radio Theatre "Wife, Husband and Friend" June 19, 1941 Kraft Music Hall March 23, 1942 Lux Radio Theatre "The Strawberry Blonde" February 8, 1943 Lux Radio Theatre "The Maltese Falcon" November 5, 1943 Stage Door Canteen June 1944 The Dreft Star Playhouse "Marked Woman" July 29, 1944 Visiting Hours February 4, 1945 The Harold Lloyd Comedy Theatre "My Favorite Wife" February 12, 1945 The Screen Guild Theater "Belle of the Yukon" October 9, 1945 This Is My Best "The Gilded Pheasant" November 12, 1945 The Screen Guild Theater "My Favorite Wife" December 16, 1946 Lux Radio Theatre "Killer Cates" April 24, 1947 Lum and Abner 1947 Proudly We Hail February 23, 1948 Lux Radio Theatre "T-Men"