Pat Paterson

Pat Paterson

Born: April 10, 1910
Died: August 24, 1978
in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK
Pat Paterson (10 April 1910 – 24 August 1978) was an English film actress. Although she made more than 20 films, she is best known as the wife of actor Charles Boyer. The couple's only child, Michael, died by self-inflicted gunshot at the age of 21. In 1928, although aged only 18 (the legal age of adulthood in the UK at that time was 21) she persuaded her parents to allow her to leave for Hollywood. She arrived in 1929 and was signed by Fox Studios as a contract player and immediately began to obtain film roles. She was renamed Patricia (almost immediately shortened to Pat) Paterson, as the Pat-Paterson sound had an ear-catching alliterative rhythm.

From 1930-34 she appeared in many studio pictures, in roles of increasing prominence. In the 1935 20th Century Fox film Charlie Chan Goes To Egypt, starring Warner Oland as Chan, she played the female lead, Carol Arnold. This was intended by the studio to serve as her break-out role for leading parts. In early 1934, as production on Charlie Chan Goes To Egypt was wrapping, Maurice Chevalier persuaded his lifelong best friend, fellow French actor Charles Boyer, to attend a Fox Studios post-New Year dinner party at which Pat Paterson was a guest. In interviews over the years, Boyer declared their meeting to have been a case of love at first sight. They married within four weeks of the party, on St. Valentine's Day, 14 February 1934, in Yuma, Arizona. Boyer was quoted in the American news media as claiming his wife would be relinquishing her career, as he felt married women should not work but devote their time and attention to bringing up their children. However, Paterson continued to work. Indeed, arguably her greatest commercial successes came in the five years immediately following her marriage to Boyer. She continued to appear in at least one film per year until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when she, her husband and Maurice Chevalier, as Europeans, devoted themselves to supporting the war effort of Britain and France. It was the war which effectively brought an end to her film career. On 9 December 1943, two years after her husband Charles became an American citizen, she gave birth to their only child, Michael Charles Boyer, in Los Angeles, California.

Movies for Pat Paterson...

Idiot's Delight
Title: Idiot's Delight
Character: Mrs. Cherry
Released: January 27, 1939
Type: Movie
A group of disparate travelers are thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the start of WWII.
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Hollywood Goes to Town
Title: Hollywood Goes to Town
Character: Self
Released: July 7, 1938
Type: Movie
This short shows how Hollywood gets ready for the world premiere of an "important" movie. The film celebrated here is Marie Antoinette (1938), which had its premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre. We see the street leading to the theatre transformed to suggest a garden that might be seen in a French palace. This includes the placement of trees and other foliage, as well as large statues along the route. Grandstands are set up so fans can see their favorite stars as they arrive for the premiere. Finally, the proverbial "galaxy of stars" arrives in their limousines. Fanny Brice and Pete Smith make remarks at the microphone set up on the carpet outside the theatre.
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52nd Street
Title: 52nd Street
Character: Margaret Rondell
Released: November 19, 1937
Type: Movie
The story of how 52nd Street became New York City's "Nightclub Row" in the 1930s.
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Spendthrift
Title: Spendthrift
Character: Valerie 'Boots' O'Connell
Released: July 22, 1936
Type: Movie
A profligate, polo-playing playboy (Henry Fonda) is married to a beautiful but superficial heiress (Mary Brian). They divorce, and the wife gets all the money. But the humbled (and impoverished) Fonda finds true love in the arms of Pat Paterson, who cares nothing for material things.
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Charlie Chan in Egypt
Title: Charlie Chan in Egypt
Character: Carol Arnold
Released: June 4, 1935
Type: Movie
While investigating the theft of antiquities from an ancient tomb excavation , Charlie discovers that the body of the expedition's leader concealed inside the mummy's wrappings.
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The Lottery Lover
Title: The Lottery Lover
Character: Patty
Released: February 5, 1935
Type: Movie
A crew of young military-school cadets are enjoying their first weekend in Paris. Frank Harrington, a girl-shy cadet, wins the lottery which "They" have organized, an Frank wins the right to woo the star of the Folies Bergere, Gaby Aimee, with her garter serving as proof of conquest. Meanwhile Frank has found the one girl-of-his-heart, Patty, and this serves to complicate matters.
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Love Time
Title: Love Time
Character: Valerie
Released: November 3, 1934
Type: Movie
Romaticized biopic about the life of composer Franz Schubert.
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Call It Luck
Title: Call It Luck
Character: Pat Laurie
Released: July 9, 1934
Type: Movie
A London taxicab driver cashes in on a big sweepstakes ticket and becomes the prey of a confidence-gang that sells him a nag of a cavalry horse on the claim that it is a brother to a current Derby winner.
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Bottoms Up
Title: Bottoms Up
Character: Wanda Gale
Released: April 12, 1934
Type: Movie
Promoter "Smoothie" King helps a pair of phonies con their way into a movie company. As Wanda heads toward stardom, she turns more and more from King toward the matinée idol. King must decide between his plans and her happiness.
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The Bermondsey Kid
Title: The Bermondsey Kid
Character: Mary
Released: November 1, 1933
Type: Movie
A newsboy enters a boxing championship where he is matched with a sick friend.
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Bitter Sweet
Title: Bitter Sweet
Character: Dolly
Released: August 21, 1933
Type: Movie
A young girl falls in love with a young conductor in Vienna, and they marry. However, their marriage is threatened by a wealthy man.....
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The Medicine Man
Title: The Medicine Man
Character: Gwendoline Wells
Released: January 1, 1933
Type: Movie
A young man impersonates a doctor.
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The Right to Live
Title: The Right to Live
Character: June Kessler
Released: January 1, 1933
Type: Movie
A shady financier tries to acquire a new chemical
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Here's George
Title: Here's George
Character: Laura Wentworth
Released: September 20, 1932
Type: Movie
'Man borrows service flat to impress girl's parents.' (British Film Catalogue)
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Partners Please
Title: Partners Please
Character: Angela Grittlewood
Released: March 31, 1932
Type: Movie
An aristocrat becomes a gigolo.
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Murder on the Second Floor
Title: Murder on the Second Floor
Character: Sylvia Armitage
Released: March 4, 1932
Type: Movie
A novelist imagines the murders of his fellow tenants...
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Lord Babs
Title: Lord Babs
Character: Helen Parker
Released: February 1, 1932
Type: Movie
A steward inherits the estate of an earl. To repel the advances of an unwanted fiancee, he pretends that he has regressed to childhood behaviors.
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The Great Gay Road
Title: The Great Gay Road
Character: Nancy
Released: October 21, 1931
Type: Movie
'Romance of the open road and the circus. A tramp poses as baronet's lost son but relinquishes his sweetheart to a younger man.' (British Film Institute)
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Night Shadows
Title: Night Shadows
Character: Francine
Released: October 8, 1931
Type: Movie
Michel, a young sailor, returns home to Marseilles to find that his former lover, Francine, now works in the local brothel. In a jealous rage, he picks a fight with her and an aggressive client, Julot, leading to tragedy for all three.