Saturday, August 22, 2015

Melody Patterson, R. I. P.

Variety: TV actress Melody Patterson, best known for playing Wrangler Jane on “F Troop,” died Thursday at the age of 66.  Patterson died in a nursing home after multiple organ failure, according to reports.

5 comments:

Patrick Murtha said...

I am very skeptical of Patterson's listed 1949 birth date. If true, it would mean that she was all of 16 when she first appeared on "F Troop." Her Wikipedia article confirms that, and her IMDB bio page says that she auditioned for her role at age 15 but kept her age from the producers. I am having a very hard time believing all of this. What do you all think?

From 1970 to 1977, Patterson was married to "Hawaii Five-O" star James MacArthur, who was coming off a 10-year marriage to actress Joyce Bulifant (1958-1968), and who later understandably said that "alimony" was his least favorite word in the English language. Patterson probably met MacArthur during the filming of the cycle film "The Angry Breed" (1968), in which he is cast against type as a neo-Nazi gang leader (!!). He would still have been married to Bulifant at that time, so it is easy to concoct a probable scenario...

While she was living in Hawaii with MacArthur, Patterson apparently played the title role in Strindberg's "Miss Julie" for the Honolulu Performing Arts Company. That is somewhat difficult to imagine, too, although the IMDB bio also says that she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC (after the 1965-1967 run of "F Troop"?).

Unknown said...

From F TROOP to MISS JULIE. That's quite a jump. I've always thought stars shaved a few years off their ages, and it's a little hard to believe that she was just 16 when she started on TV.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Either way, she was way too young to die.

Jeff

Ed Gorman said...

F Troop was one of my all time fave guilty pleasures. And she sure was a sweet pretty reason for watching.And Uncle Leo from Seinfeld was one of the Indian Chiefs.

Cap'n Bob said...

I've heard it said she was a teenager when she did F Troop quite a few years ago. I wonder what all those organs are that failed, and why.