DICK PATTERSON

April 11, 1929

Dick Patterson was born Richard Neal Patterson in Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1929.  In 1961, he got his ‘big break’ on Broadway replacing Dick Van Dyke in the original cast of the musical Bye Bye Birdie.  His Broadway debut was in the short-lived Vintage ‘60. Next he was seen opposite Ken Berry in The Billy Barnes People, the show where Lucille Ball claims to have ‘discovered’ Berry. In between Vintage and Barnes, Lucille Ball appeared on Broadway, too, in Wildcat. 

In 1964, he played opposite Carol Burnett in Fade Out – Fade In on Broadway. 

He made his television debut in 1958 on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” which was filmed in New York City, and often featured Broadway performers.  

On March 22, 1965, he was made his first appearance opposite Lucille Ball in “Lucy and the Beauty Doctor” (TLS S3;E24). As usual in cases like this, Patterson was not really playing himself, just using his own name and aspects of his personality. He was never the host of a hidden camera show.

He returned to “The Lucy Show” on November 1, 1965 for “Lucy Helps Danny Thomas” (TLS S4;E7). He played Marty King, director of Thomas’s television show. 

The hallways of the studio (presumably CBS) are decorated with photos of television stars like Jim Nabors of “Gomer Pyle USMC”, which was filmed on the Desilu backlot. 

Coincidentally, in January 1969, Dick Patterson appeared on an episode of the series “Win-A-Date” playing the host of a TV dating show.  In 1966, “The Lucy Show” did a cross-over episode featuring Jim Nabors in a cameo. 

In September 1966, Patterson and his wife Gita were seen on “Lucy Week” of the game show “Password” along with other “Lucy Show” performers.  Patterson tells host Allen Ludden that Lucy first saw him in a play in 1960. 

In addition to working with Lucy, he also was on the Desilu lot for a 1963 episode of “My Three Sons” with William Frawley, and a 1964 episode of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (above), reuniting him with the man he replaced in Bye Bye Birdie.  After filming “The Lucy Show” he starred in an episode of Desilu’s “Vacation Playhouse” titled “My Son the Doctor” (1966). 

Patterson appeared on “Here’s Lucy” as Mr. Morton of the Select-A-Spouse Dating Service in “Lucy, The Matchmaker” (HL S1;E12) in December 1968. Morton was Lucille Ball’s married name!  

In “Lucy’s Lucky Day” (HL S4;E15) in December 1971, Patterson was once again cast as a TV show host. This time he was Dick Dunkirk, host of the game show “The Milky Way To Riches.” 

For a change of pace, he played a football coach in “Lucy and Joe Namath” (HL S5;E5) airing on October 9, 1972.

In his final appearance on the series, he played the director of a pickle commercial, Steve Thompson, wearing a goatee and using an accent.  “Lucy is Really in a Pickle” (HL S5;E15) aired on January 1, 1973. 

He attempted a return to Broadway in 1977, but the show only lasted one night. He tried once more in 1986 with the musical Smile, but that lasted only 48 performances.  

From 1974 to 1976 he reunited with his Broadway co-star Carol Burnett on a dozen episodes of her television show, although none of the episodes also featured Lucille Ball. One of the shows, however, featured Ken Berry, another of his Broadway co-stars. 

He was in the film musicals Can’t Stop the Music (1980), Grease (1978), and Grease 2 (1982).  His final screen appearance was a December 1991 episode of “Columbo” playing an Emcee. 

He died on September 20, 1999 at the age of 70.  He was married twice and had two children.