RIP PAT CARROLL

1927-2022

Patricia Ann Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. She was an actress and comedian best known for voicing Ursula in The Little Mermaid as well as having a long acting career on stage and screen. 

Her first brush with Lucille Ball was through appearing in an episode of the Desilu sitcom “The Ann Sothern Show” titled “Pandora”.  Lucille Ball had made a guest appearance on the series to kick off its transition from Sothern’s “Private Secretary.” 

From 1961 to 1964 she played Bunny Halper on “The Danny Thomas Show” (originally titled “Make Room for Daddy”).  Her husband Charley was played by frequent Lucy featured actor Sid Melton.  While Carroll and Lucille Ball never acted together on screen, they did know each other.  In an interview, Carroll remembered Lucy: 

I don’t think we had many [female comedians] in the professional field until Lucy came along and made the whole career of ‘comedienne’ okay. You no longer had to be an ugly girl to be a comic. She made it possible for any young woman to do comedy anywhere. You know, when I was doing “The Danny Thomas Show” we were on the same lot where she and Desi did the Lucy show.

Lucille Ball used to come to my dressing room out of sentiment and I got to talk to her. We talked about her early days at MGM. She said, “I am doing work today that I was taught to do by Rags Ragland and Buster Keaton.” MGM kept them under contract and they taught comedy classes to the young contract players, Lucy being one.

She said, “They used to give us a prop to take home with us and study every part of it, get so familiar with it, we could throw it in the air, catch it and do anything we want. That has helped me so much.” I keep thinking of her using stilts in her show and how adept she was with any kind of prop.

How wonderful of her to give the credit was due. She was a very generous woman that way.

In addition to “The Danny Thomas Show,” Carroll also made a few appearances on Desilu’s game show “You Don’t Say”. From 1963 to 1969 she was a regular panelist on the show, playing doing more episodes than anyone except host Tom Kennedy. She played the game with Marty Allen, Richard Deacon, Sebastian Cabot, Marty Ingels, Bill Cullen, Brian Keith, Ken Berry, Mel Torme, Leonard Nimoy, Monty Hall, Rod Serling, and her TV husband Sid Melton, among others. 

Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk and Grammy Award winner and a Tony Award nominee. She died at her home in Cape Cod at the age of 95. She is survived by her three children.