Patricia Dane

Patricia Dane

Born: August 4, 1919
Died: June 5, 1995
in Blountstown, Florida, USA
Resembling Hedy Lamarr with her brunette sultry looks, beautiful second-string actress Patricia Dane possessed a rough and rowdy exterior, which worked much better for her in front of the camera than off of it. Born Thelma Patricia Ann Pippen in Jacksonville, Florida, her father died shortly after her birth, and the infant was placed in the care, for a time, of her grandparents. When her mother remarried a man named Byrnes, young Thelma went back to live with her and was raised with the new name of Thelma Byrnes.

Following graduation from Andrew Jackson High School in Jacksonville, Patricia entered the University of Alabama. She moved to New York in 1938 to be a fashion designer, but her dark-eyed beauty instead led her to instant money with modeling jobs. This opened a few doors and she quickly got caught up in the New York whirlwind "high life," becoming known around town as a feisty party girl.

Casted in her first role as a well-endowed Ziegfeld Girl in MGM's splashy, musical aptly named Ziegfeld Girl (1941), the studio immediately signed her up. She made minor impressions in Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941) and as gangster Robert Taylor's girl in Johnny Eager (1941), which led to co-star billing in the "B" films Grand Central Murder (1942), as a volatile, cold-hearted actress who meets a nasty end, _Northwest Rangers (1942) and _Manhattan Melodrama (1942)_.

Patricia was squired about town with several eligible bachelors but on April 8, 1943, she became Mrs. Tommy Dorsey. Following a role in the Red Skelton vehicle I Dood It (1943), she left films per the renowned bandleader's insistence. The marriage was stormy, to say the least, with some grand knockout fights that made headlines as both were pretty wild tipplers (she would often refer to themselves as "The New Battling Bogarts"). This marriage had little chance for survival and on August 26, 1947, it was finished. She never remarried.

Patricia could now return to films and did so with the minor entries Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad (1948) and Are You with It? (1948). Nothing came of it. She made more unattractive news in 1949 when she and MGM actor Robert Walker were arrested for driving erratically, public drunkenness, and resisting arrest. After this, all she could find were unbilled parts in Road to Bali (1952) and A Life of Her Own (1950).

Moving to Blountstown, Florida, Patricia's life quieted down considerably becoming, of all things, a librarian in town. She died completely out of the limelight of lung cancer on June 5, 1995.

Movies for Patricia Dane...

The Harder They Fall
Title: The Harder They Fall
Character: Shirley (uncredited)
Released: May 9, 1956
Type: Movie
Jobless sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by corrupt fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his current protégé, an unknown Argentinian boxer named Toro Moreno. Although Moreno is a hulking giant, his chances for success are hampered by a powder-puff punch and a glass jaw. Exploiting Willis' reputation for integrity and standing in the boxing community, Benko arranges a series of fixed fights that propel the unsophisticated Moreno to #1 contender for the championship. The reigning champ, the sadistic Buddy Brannen, harbors resentment at the publicity Toro has been receiving and vows to viciously punish him in the ring. Eddie must now decide whether or not to tell the naive Toro the truth.
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Are You With It?
Title: Are You With It?
Character: Sally (as Pat Dane)
Released: March 19, 1948
Type: Movie
Milton Haskins, a math genius known for his infallibility with numbers, quits his job with an insurance company when he discovers he made a mistake, and hooks up with a traveling carnival. His knowledge of mathematics makes him a natural as an assistant at the wheel of fortune. His fiancée begs him to return to his job but he refuses, so she joins the carnival and becomes a striptease artist. When Milton attempts to drag her off the stage, a brawling mêlée breaks out and the entire troupe is arrested by the local police. The carnival is sold but Milton reveals that the new owner has conspired to defraud the insurance company. The insurance company has to accept the carnival in lieu of the money owed, and they allow Milton and his fiancée, Vivian, to stay with and help run the carnival.
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Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad
Title: Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad
Character: Iris March
Released: February 7, 1948
Type: Movie
Joe Palooka goes blind during a fight. An operation restores his vision, but he's told not to fight for a year. His trainer Knobby has picked up another fighter, but gangsters are pressing him to fix fights. Joe decides to risk his eyesight to save Knobby's honor.
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I Dood It
Title: I Dood It
Character: Suretta Brenton
Released: September 1, 1943
Type: Movie
Constance Shaw, a Broadway dance star, and Joseph Rivington Reynolds, a keen fan of hers, marry after she breaks up with her fiancé. Connie thinks Joseph owns a gold mine, but he actually works as a presser at a hotel valet shop. When everyone learns what he really is, Joseph is banned from the theater. When he sneaks in again, he learns of a plot to set off a bomb in the adjoining munitions warehouse.
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Northwest Rangers
Title: Northwest Rangers
Character: Jean Avery
Released: October 28, 1942
Type: Movie
Boyhood friends grow up into different professions: one a dedicated Canadian Mountie, the other a notorious gambler.
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Somewhere I'll Find You
Title: Somewhere I'll Find You
Character: Crystal McRegan
Released: August 27, 1942
Type: Movie
Journalist brothers feud over a woman they both fall for while covering World War II in the far east.
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Grand Central Murder
Title: Grand Central Murder
Character: Mida King, Stage Name of Beulah Toohey
Released: May 1, 1942
Type: Movie
Conniving Broadway starlet Mida King has plenty of enemies, so when she's found murdered at Grand Central Station, Inspector Gunther calls together a slew of suspects for questioning. Mida's shady ex-flame, Turk, seems the most likely culprit, but when smart-mouthed private eye Rocky Custer -- also a suspect himself -- begins to piece together the crime, a few clues that Gunther has overlooked come to light.
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Rio Rita
Title: Rio Rita
Character: Lucette Brunswick
Released: March 11, 1942
Type: Movie
Doc and Wishey run into some Nazi-agents, who want to smuggle bombs into the USA from a Mexican border hotel.
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Personalities
Title: Personalities
Character: (uncredited)
Released: January 1, 1942
Type: Movie
In this "Romance of Celluloid", MGM showcases performers whose careers are just starting. Excerpts from their recently released films are included. The narrator says that moviegoers will have to decide whether these fledgling actors and actresses have that certain quality that made superstars out of MGM players Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Lana Turner.
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Johnny Eager
Title: Johnny Eager
Character: Garnet
Released: December 9, 1941
Type: Movie
A charming racketeer seduces the DA's stepdaughter for revenge, then falls in love.
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Life Begins for Andy Hardy
Title: Life Begins for Andy Hardy
Character: Jennitt Hicks
Released: August 15, 1941
Type: Movie
With his high school graduation behind him, Andy Hardy decides that as an adult, it's time to start living his life. Judge Hardy had hoped that his son would go to college and study law, but Andy isn't sure that's what he wants to do so he heads off to New York City to find a job. Too proud to accept any help from Betsy Booth, Andy finds that living on his own isn't so easy. With perseverance he eventually finds a job and even gets to date the pretty receptionist in his office. He also has to face several of life's lessons leading him to conclude that he may still have a bit of growing up to do.
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I'll Wait for You
Title: I'll Wait for You
Character: Blonde in Elevator (uncredited)
Released: May 16, 1941
Type: Movie
A gangster hides out on a farm and falls for the farmer's daughter.
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Ziegfeld Girl
Title: Ziegfeld Girl
Character: Ziegfeld Girl (Uncredited)
Released: April 25, 1941
Type: Movie
Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.