Every
Princess Has a Royal Villain
Ariel
Had Two in One
Patricia Ann “Pat” Carroll
May
5th, 1927
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Patricia Ann “Pat”
Carroll (born May 5, 1927) is an American actress. She performed
in numerous stage productions, and portrayed the roles of "Bunny
Halper" on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show, Shirley Feeney's mother on ABC's Laverne
and Shirley, and is the voice of both the villainous Ursula and her
sister Morgana, in The Little Mermaid film series.
She was also known
for participating on TV game shows. Later acting roles include appearances in
three episodes of ER in which she played a bag lady and as Miep Gies in the
film Freedom Writers. Carroll supplied the voice of Katrina Stoneheart in Hanna-Barbera's
Pount Puppies TV series.
Early life
Carroll was born
in Shreveport, Louisiana, to Kathryn Angela (née Meagher) and Maurice Clifton
Carroll. Her family moved to Los Angeles when Pat was five years old. She
graduated from Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girls Catholic school, in
Hollywood. For college she attended Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles
(the college closed in 1981) and Catholic University of America.
Career
In 1956, Carroll
won an Emmy Award for her work on Caesar’s Hour and was a regular on the sitcom
Make Room for Daddy. She guest starred in the drama anthology series, The
DuPont Show with June Allyson. Carroll also appeared on many variety shows of
the 1950s and 1960s, such as The Red Buttons Show, The Danny Kaye Show, The Red
Skelton Show, and The Carol Burnett Show. In 1965, she co-starred as
"Prunella", one of the wicked stepsisters in a TV production of Rodgers
and Hammerstein's musical version of Cinderella, which starred Lesley Ann
Warren in the title role.
Carroll scored a
personal and artistic success in the late 1970s with her one woman show on Gertrude
Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein (by playwright
Marty Martin), winning several major theater awards, and even a Grammy in 1981
for her recorded version of the performance.
In early 1976,
Carroll was cast as Lily, the mother of Shirley Feeney (played by Cindy
Williams) in the episode, "Mother Knows Worst" on the hit ABC sitcom,
Laverne & Shirley. Despite Carroll's success in that role, she never
returned to the series as an annual guest star or as a semi-regular.
Her frequent
television roles in the 1980s included newspaper owner Hope Stinson on the
syndicated Ted Knight Show (the former Too Close for Comfort) during its
final season in 1986; and that of Gussie Holt, the mother of Suzanne Somers'
lead character in the syndicated sitcom She's the Sheriff (1987–1989).
Since the late
1980s she has had a great deal of voice-over work on animated programs such as A
Pup Named Scooby Doo, Galaxy High, and A Goofy Movie. On TV's Pound Puppies she
voiced Katrina Stoneheart. On two Garfield television specials (A Garfield
Christmas and Garfield’s Thanksgiving), she voiced Jon's feisty Grandma.
She portrayed the
sea witch Ursula in many forms of media, such as the Kingdom Hearts series of
video games, the Fantasmic show at two Disney them parks, the spin-off TV
series as well as for the puppet version of Ursula in Walt Disney’s Parade of
Dreams at Disneyland and in the HalloWishes Halloween-themed fireworks
spectacular at Walt Disney World's "Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party"
event in the Magic Kingdom. She also voiced Ursula's sister Morgana in The
Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.
Carroll has also
appeared on a variety of game shows, including Celebrity Sweepstakes, You
Don’t Say, To Tell the Truth, Password, I’ve Got a Secret, and Hollywood
Connection. Taking a break from various villains she's played, her most recent
voice over role was the kind and compassionate character of Granny in the
re-release of Hayao Miyazaki's warm hearted story My Neighbor Totoro.
She has also had a
successful career in the theater, particularly in numerous off-Broadway
productions. In 1990 she stunned the theater world with an acclaimed
performance in The merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre at the
Folger playing a male role, Sir John Falstaff, a balding knight with whiskers.
Drama critic Frank Rich of The New York Times 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."
As a member of The
Actors Studio Carroll is currently working in stage productions. Her past work includes
not only off-Broadway productions but the Kennedy Center and national tours. In
2005, she played a homeless woman in three episodes of the television series ER.
In 2007, she became a first lady headmaster of Intercontinental Television in Houston,
Texas.
Personal life
She is the mother
of two daughters, Kerry and Tara Karsian. Her only son, Sean Karsian, died on
July 30, 2009. Carroll also is grandmother to Evan Patricia Karsian.
She has received
honorary degrees from Barry College in Miami, Florida and Siena College in
Albany, New York.
Filmography
Television
- ER (2005) - Rebecca Chadwick (3 episodes)
- House of Mouse (2001–2002) - Ursula (voice, 5 episodes)
- Songcatcher (2000) - Viney Butler
- The Royale (1996)
- The Little Mermaid (1993–1994) - Ursula
- Designing Women (1993) - Mrs. Beecham
- Just My Imagination (1992) - Peggy
- Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers (1990) - Koo-Koo
- Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989) - Grandma
- A Pup Named Scooby Doo (1989) - Paula Picasso
- Superman (1988) - Queen Hippolyta
- She’s the Sheriff (1987–1989) - Gussie Holt
- A Garfield Christmas Special (1987) - Grandma
- Foofur (1986) - Hazel
- Too Close for Comfort (1986) - Mrs. Hope Stinson
- Galaxy High School (1986) - Ms. Biddy McBrain
- Pound Puppies (1986) - Katrina Stoneheart
- Yogi’s Treasure Hunt (1985) - Additional Voices
- Crazy Like a Fox (1985)
- Trapper John, M.D. (1985) - Aunt Mo
- Legends of the Superheroes (1979) - Esther Hall
- The Love Boat (1978)
- Police Woman (1977) - Miriam Stein
- Busting Loose (1977) - Pearl Markowitz
- Good Heavens (1976) - Harriet
- Laverne & Shirley (1976) - Mrs. Feeney
- Nakia (1974) – Belle Jones
- Police Story (1974) - Mrs. Bannister
- Oh, Nurse! (1972)
- Second Chance (1972) - Gloria Petryk
- Love, American Style (1970–1971)
- Getting Together (1971) - Rita Simon
- After the Honeymoon (1971)
- The Interns (1971) - Maria
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1971) - Loretta Kuhne
- The Super 6 (1966) -
- Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1966) - Carol Baker
- Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965) - Prunella
- Your First Impression (1963) -- as herself
- The Red Skelton Show (1962)
- The Investigators (1961) - Blossom Taylor
- The United States Steel Hour (1961)
- The Investigators
- The Ann Sothern Show (1961) - Pandora
- The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1959) - Cherry
- General Electric Theater (1959) - Frances Dowd
- Hobby Lobby (1959)
- The Steve Allen Show (1958)
- The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee
Ernie Ford (March 3, 1958)
- The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom (1958)
- The Jimmy Durante Show (1955)
- Kraft Television Theatre (1955)
- Producers’ Showcase (1955) - Gym teacher
- Max Liebman Presents: Variety (1955) - Herself
- Caesar’s
Hour (1954) - Alice Brewster
- Studio 57 (1954) - Sue
- Max Liebman Presents: Spotlight (1954) - Herself
- The Mickey Rooney Show (1954) - Bobo
- The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (1954)
- Make Room for Daddy (1953) - Bunny Halper
- The Saturday Night Revue (1953)
- The Red Buttons Show (1952–1953)
- Goodyear Television Playhouse (1951)
Film
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Video games
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