Pat Carroll

Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She is best known for providing the voice of Ursula in The Little Mermaid. She made guest appearances in many popular television series including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laverne & Shirley, and ER; she also had a regular role on The Danny Thomas Show as Bunny Halper. Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee.

Early life Patricia Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 5, 1927, to Maurice Clifton Carroll (d. 1963) and Kathryn Angela (née Meagher). Patricia’s family moved to Los Angeles when she was five years old, and she soon began acting in local productions. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School and attended Catholic University of America after enlisting in the United States Army as a civilian actress technician.

Career Carroll began her acting career in 1947. She got her first acting credit as Lorelei Crawford in the 1948 film Hometown Girl. In 1955, her Broadway debut in Catch a Star! garnered her a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. her recorded version won a 1980 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama.

In early 1976, Carroll was cast as Lily, the mother of Shirley Feeney, on the hit ABC situation comedy, Laverne & Shirley, in the episode "Mother Knows Worst" . She portrayed Pearl Markowitz, the mother of Adam Arkin's character Lenny Markowitz, in the 1977 CBS situation comedy Busting Loose. In 1978, she made a guest appearance on The Love Boat. Her television roles in the 1980s included newspaper owner Hope Stinson on the syndicated The Ted Knight Show (formerly Too Close for Comfort) during its final season in 1986, and Gussie Holt, the mother of Suzanne Somers's lead character in the syndicated sitcom She's the Sheriff (1987–1989).

Starting in the late 1980s, Carroll took several voice-over roles for cartoons, She later reprised the role in other forms of media, including the Kingdom Hearts series of video games, the Little Mermaid television series, the Disney+ series The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, and various Disney theme parks attractions and shows, as well as voicing Ursula's crazy sister Morgana in the direct-to-video sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. In 1990, she starred in The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger in the role of Sir John Falstaff, a balding knight with whiskers.

When drama critic Frank Rich of The New York Times reviewed her performance in The Merry Wives of Windsor, he wrote, "Her performance is a triumph from start to finish, and, I think, a particularly brave and moving one, with implications that go beyond this one production. Ms. Carroll and Mr. Kahn help revivify the argument that the right actresses can perform some of the great classic roles traditionally denied to women and make them their own. It's not a new argument, to be sure; female Hamlets stretch back into history. But what separates Ms. Carroll's Falstaff from some other similar casting experiments of late is that her performance exists to investigate a character rather than merely as ideological window dressing for a gimmicky production."

After reading an article claiming that video games were not for people born prior to 1965, Carroll started playing video games. While on the road for Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein, she became a "video game junkie". She at first played at parlors, then bought herself a home computer.

Hanna-Barbera lawsuit In 1963, Carroll filed a $12,000 lawsuit against Hanna-Barbera for breach of contract, claiming that she had been cast and signed on to the role of Jane Jetson on The Jetsons. Although her contracts stipulated she would be paid US$500 an episode with a guarantee of twenty-four episodes (i.e., a full season), she recorded only one episode before being replaced. Several sources claimed the change had occurred as a result of sponsor conflict with Carroll's work on Make Room for Daddy. The case had been closed by early 1965 and the court had ruled in favor of Hanna-Barbera.

Death Carroll died of pneumonia at her home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on July 30, 2022, at the age of 95.

Filmography Film

Television

The Red Buttons Show (1952–1953) 1973 Anything Goes Reno Sweeney 1975 Something's Afoot 1979 Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Drama Desk Award 1984 Dancing in the End Zone Madeleine Bernard 1986 Romeo and Juliet Nurse 1989 Cinderella Fairy Godmother 1990 The Merry Wives of Windsor Falstaff 1993 Mother Courage and Her Children Mother Courage 1996 Volpone Volpone

Grace and Glorie Grace Electra Chorus of Mycenae 2000 Thoroughly Modern Millie Mrs. Meers Pre-Broadway production 2002 Our Town The Stage Manager