Pat Carroll Dies: Veteran Actress Of Stage, TV, Film And Voice Of Ursula In ‘The Little Mermaid’ Was 95
She was number 283 on the list.
Comedian and actress Pat Carroll, a television pioneer and an Emmy, Drama Desk and Grammy winner, died at her home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts on July 30, while recovering from pnuemonia.
A frequent film actress and television guest star and series regular starting in the late 1940s, her work was seen on the Jimmy Durante Show, The Danny Thomas Show, Laverne & Shirley, ER and many other shows. She voiced Ursula in The Little Mermaid, and voiced several cartoon series.
Patricia Ann Carroll was born May 5, 1927 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was five years old, and she soon began acting in local productions. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High Schol and then attended Catholic University of America after enlisting in the US Army.
Carroll’s acting career started in 1947 with the film Hometown Girl. In 1956, Carroll won an Emmy Award for her work on Sid Caesar’s House, and was a regular on the sitcom Make Room for Daddy from 1961 to 1964.
She also appeared on many variety shows of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including shows headlined by Steve Allen, Red Buttons, Danny Kaye, Red Skelton and Carol Burnett. In 1965 she costarred as “Prunella,” one of the wicked stepsisters in the 1965 production of the musical version of Cinderella.
Carroll won several theater awards for her one-woman show on Gertrude Stein, and the recorded version won a 1980 Grammy for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama.
In early 1976, Carroll was cast as Lily, the mother of Shirley Feeney in the episode “Mother Knows Worst” on the hit ABC sitcom Laverne & Shiley. She also was in the CBS sitcom Busting Loose, The Ted Knight Show, and the syndicated She’s The Sheriff.
In 1989, Carroll portrayed the sea witch Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, singing “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” She called the role one of her favorites, and reprised it in several other productions in various media.
In the late 1970s Carroll's successful one woman show on Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein (by playwright Marty Martin), won several major theater awards; her recorded version won a 1980 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama.
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 situation comedy, Laverne & Shirley. She portrayed Pearl Markowitz, the mother of Adam Arkin's character Lenny Markowitz, in the 1977 CBS situation comedy Busting Loose. Her frequent television roles in the 1980s included newspaper owner Hope Stinson on the syndicated The 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).
From the late 1980s on, Carroll had a great deal of voice-over work on animated programs[6] such as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Galaxy High, Foofur, 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 portrayed Jon's feisty Grandmother. She also voiced the character of Granny in the 2005 re-release of Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro.
In 1989, Carroll portrayed the sea witch Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid and sang "Poor Unfortunate Souls". In interviews, Carroll referred to the role as one of the favorites of her career. She later reprised the role in other forms of media, including the Kingdom Hearts series of video games, the spinoff television series, the Disney+ series The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, and various Disney theme parks attractions and shows, as well as voicing Ursula's sister Morgana in the direct-to-video sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.
Carroll also appeared on a variety of game shows including Celebrity Sweepstakes, You Don't Say, To Tell the Truth, Match Game 73, Password, and I've Got a Secret.
A member of the Actors Studio, she also enjoyed a successful career in the theater, appearing in numerous plays including productions of Our Town and Sophocles' Electra. In 1990, she starred in The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger in the role of Sir John Falstaff, a balding knight with whiskers.
When drama critic Frank Rich of The New York Times reviewed her performance he 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.
In 1963, Carroll filed a $12,000 lawsuit against Hanna-Barbera for breach of contract, claiming that she had been cast and signed on to the role of Jane Jetson on The Jetsons. Morey Amsterdam, who alleged that he had been cast as George, was also a plaintiff in the same suit.
Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on May 5, 1927, to Maurice Clifton Carroll and Kathryn Angela (née Meagher). Her family moved to Los Angeles when Pat was five years old and she soon began acting in local productions. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School and attended Catholic University of America after enlisting in the United States Army as a civilian actress technician.
Survivors include daughters Kerry Karsian, Tara Karsian and granddaughter Evan Karsian-McCormick. No memorial plans have been revealed.
Carroll died from pneumonia at her home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on July 30, 2022, at the age of 95.
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1948 Hometown Girl Lorelei Crawford
1951 Up Front Italian Girl Uncredited
1967 The Ballad of Josie Elizabeth
1968 With Six You Get Eggroll Maxine Scott
1973 The Brothers O'Toole Callie Burdyne
1984 Racing with the Moon Mrs. Ruth Spangler
1988 My Neighbor Totoro Granny Voice, Disney English dub
1989 The Little Mermaid Ursula Voice
2000 Songcatcher Viney Butler
The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea Morgana Voice
2001 Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse Ursula Voice
2002 Mickey's House of Villains Ursula Voice
2007 Freedom Writers Miep Gies
Nancy Drew Landlady
2014 BFFs Joan
Television
The Red Buttons Show (1952–1953)
The Saturday Night Revue (1953)
Make Room for Daddy (1953) – Bunny Halper
The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (1954)
Studio 57 (1954) – Sue
Caesar's Hour (1954) – Alice Brewster
Producers' Showcase (1955) – Gym teacher
Kraft Television Theatre (1955)
The Jimmy Durante Show (1955)
The Steve Allen Show (1958)
Hobby Lobby (1959)
General Electric Theater (1959) – Frances Dowd
The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1959) – Cherry
The Ann Sothern Show (1961) – Pandora
The Investigators (1961) – Blossom Taylor (episode "The Dead End Man")
The United States Steel Hour (1961)
The Danny Thomas Show (1961–1964)
The Red Skelton Show (1962)
Cinderella (1965) – Prunella
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1966) – Carol Baker
The Carol Burnett Show (1971) — Herself; Two appearances in 1971 (Season 4, Episodes 16 and 23)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1971) – Loretta Kuhne
The Interns (1971) – Maria
Love, American Style (1970–1971)
Getting Together (1971–1972) – Rita Simon
Police Story (1974) – Mrs. Gail Bannister
Nakia (1974) – Belle Jones in episode "A Matter of Choice"
Laverne & Shirley (1976) – Mrs. Wilhelmina Feeney
Good Heavens (1976) – Harriet
Busting Loose (1977) – Pearl Markowitz
Police Woman (1977) – Miriam Stein
The Love Boat (1978)
Legends of the Superheroes (1979) – Esther Hall
Trapper John, M.D. (1985) – Aunt Mo
Crazy Like a Fox (1985)
Yogi's Treasure Hunt (1985) – Additional Voices
Pound Puppies (1986) – Katrina Stoneheart (voice)
Galaxy High School (1986) – Ms. Biddy McBrain (voice)
Foofur (1986–1987) – Hazel (voice)
Too Close for Comfort (1986) – Mrs. Hope Stinson
A Garfield Christmas (1987) – Grandma (voice)
She's the Sheriff (1987–1989) – Gussie Holt
Superman (1988) – Queen Hippolyta (voice)
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1989) – Paula P. Casso (voice)
Garfield's Thanksgiving (1989) – Grandma (voice)
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (1990) – Koo-Koo (voice)
Designing Women (1993) – Mrs. Billie Beecham
The Little Mermaid (1993–1994) – Ursula (voice)
The Royale (1996) – Mildred Wak
House of Mouse (2001–2002) – Ursula (voice, 3 episodes)
ER (2005) – Rebecca Chadwick (3 episodes)
Tangled: The Series (2017–2018) – Old Lady Crowley (voice, short "Make Me Smile" and episodes "One Angry Princess", "Max's Enemy" and "Secret of the Sun Drop")
The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020) – Ursula (voice, episode "Keep on Rollin"; final role)
Video games
Kingdom Hearts (2002) – Ursula (voice)
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004) – Ursula (voice)
Kingdom Hearts II (2005) – Ursula (voice)
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (2012) – Ursula (voice)
Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure (2012) – Ursula (voice)
Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix (2013) – Ursula (voice)
Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix (2014) – Ursula (voice)
Stage
Year Title Role(s) Notes Ref.
1955 Catch a Star! performer Broadway debut
Tony Award nomination
1973 Anything Goes Reno Sweeney
1975 Something's Afoot
1979 Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Drama Desk Award
1984 Dancing in the End Zone Madeleine Bernard
1986 Romeo and Juliet Nurse
1989 Cinderella Fairy Godmother
1990 The Merry Wives of Windsor Falstaff
1992 The Show-Off Mrs. Fisher
1993 Mother Courage and Her Children Mother Courage
1996 Volpone Volpone
1998 Grace and Glorie Grace
Electra Chorus of Mycenae
2000 Thoroughly Modern Millie Mrs. Meers Pre-Broadway production
2002 Our Town The Stage Manage
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