Patty McCormack

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Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed (1956)
Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed (1956)

Patty McCormack (born August 21, 1945) is an American actress.

She was born Patricia Ellen Russo in Brooklyn, New York, to Frank Russo, a firefighter and Elizabeth (McCormack) Russo, a professional roller skater. She was a child model at the age of four and began appearing on television at the age of seven. She made her motion picture debut in Two Gals and a Guy (1951) and appeared in the television series Mama from 1953-1956.

She briefly starred in her own series, Peck's Bad Girl, in 1959, and again, decades later, in The Ropers, an unsuccessful spinoff of Three's Company, co-starring Audra Lindley, Norman Fell and Jeffrey Tambor.

Her Broadway debut was in Touchstone (1953), followed by her most famous role, as little Rhoda Penmark, an eight-year-old sociopath and fledgling serial killer, in The Bad Seed (1954). She went on to star in the film version (1956) and garner an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. McCormack was the first child actress to be nominated in a regular competitive Oscar category (Best Supporting Actress) rather than to receive the honorary Juvenile Oscar Award. (This Honorary Award has not been awarded since 1961, and children are now nominated for the same Academy Awards as adults.)

As an adult with the stage name Patricia McCormack, she continued to act in secondary roles, mostly in television with occasional film appearances. She had recurring roles in popular television series, including Dallas, Murder, She Wrote and The Sopranos.

She married Italian-American restaurateur Bob Catania in 1967, and they had two children before their marriage was dissolved.

McCormack is the sole surviving cast member of Orson Welles' unfinished film version of Don Quixote. The film has often been described as an unknown masterpiece. An international effort is now underway to bring together all parties and have the film released.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  • Rigdon, Walter (ed.) The Biographical Encyclopedia of Who's Who of the American Theatre. New York: James H. Heineman, Inc. c1966.
  • "Patty McCormack." Biography Resource Center. Thomson Gale. February 15, 2005.

[edit] External link

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