Patricia Laffan
Patricia Laffan | |
---|---|
Born | Patricia Alice Laffan 19 March 1919 |
Died | 10 March 2014 | (aged 94)
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1936–1966 |
Patricia Alice Laffan (19 March 1919 – 10 March 2014) was an English stage, film, television and radio actress,[1] and also, after her retirement from acting, an international fashion impresario.[2] She was five feet, six inches tall, with dark reddish-brown hair and green eyes.[3] She is best known for her film roles as the Empress Poppaea in Quo Vadis (1951) and the alien Nyah in Devil Girl from Mars (1954). Her biography, Devil Girl Remembered, was written by Andrew Ross in 2021.
Early life
Patricia Laffan was the daughter of Irish-born Arthur Charles Laffan (1870–1948) and London-born Elvira Alice Vitali (1896–1979). She described her father as 'a successful rubber planter in Malaya'.[3] Her parents returned to the British Isles shortly before the birth of their daughter in London.[3] On seeing the MGM film The Broadway Melody (1929) at the age of ten, Patricia decided she wanted to act.[3] She was educated at schools in Folkestone, Kent, and at the Institut Français in London.[3] At the Webber-Douglas Dramatic School she studied acting.[4] She also studied dancing at the De Vos Ballet School.[5]
Career
Laffan's first film appearance was in
In the
In
The 10 July 1954 issue of
"She lists fast cars and breeding bull terriers as her hobbies. She is quick-witted and says that had she not become an actress she would probably have been a writer. As a matter of fact, she has had a number of short stories published, and during the time she spent in Paris she wrote scripts for the Paris radio. She speaks French fluently."[3]
Laffan had a piece printed in Winter Pie -- Miscellany for Men & Women ( A Pie Pocket Special), published in October 1947. It was entitled "Penicillin and Paris" and was a breezy account of her "first weekend in Paris," under doctor's orders to take vitamins and a holiday. She was "wined and dined on the right bank and on the left" and broadcast (and sang Night and Day with a large band) over Radiodiffusion Francaise. There is a reference to the fact that she was appearing in the film The Rake's Progress, then showing in Paris.
The Pittston Gazette on 20 January 1955 had an item discussing Laffan's first visit to the United States for a combination of work and vacation. She was scouting out panel and quiz shows (she appeared in several in England) to compare notes on American methods. She noted that "The air's so good here." On 25 January 1956, the Daily Reporter[specify] ran an item from Louella Parsons: “Hollywood is talking about the uncanny resemblance of British actress Patricia Laffan to Gertrude Lawrence, and the interest in Patricia to play the Lawrence biography…”
Later life
Laffan was interviewed in London on 21 March 1998 by Lisa Cohen, for her book All We Know (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2012), an account of the lives of three women: New York intellectual Esther Murphy Strachey, writer-feminist Mercedes de Acosta, and British Vogue fashion editor Madge Garland. Laffan had a tangential connection to Garland, who was romantically involved with divorce lawyer Frances (Fay) Blacket Gill, one of the first women solicitors in England.[13] Laffan is referred to as Gill's "last girlfriend", and she briefly discusses Gill and her relationship with Garland. In 2008, Laffan was interviewed by Matthew Sweet for the BBC Four documentary Truly, Madly, Cheaply: British B Movies.
Laffan died at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London on 10 March 2014, just nine days short of her 95th birthday. The cause of death was given as multiple organ failure, cardiogenic shock, and myocardial infarction with secondary urinary sepsis consistent with acute kidney injury.
Filmography
- One Good Turn (1936) (first film appearance)
- Cross Beams (1940) - Cast Member (possibly first credited film appearance)[6]
- The Dark Tower (1943) as Nurse (uncredited)
- The Rake's Progress (1945) as Miss Fernandez[14]
- Old Mother Riley at Home (1945) - Cast Member
- Caravan (1946) as Betty (uncredited)
- I See a Dark Stranger (1946) - Cast Member (uncredited)
- Death in High Heels (1947) as Magda Doon
- Who Killed Van Loon? (1948) as Peggy Osborn
- Hangman's Wharf (1950) as Rosa Warren
- Quo Vadis (1951) as Poppaea Sabina
- Escape Route (1952) as Irma Brooks
- Rough Shoot (1953) as Magda
- Don't Blame the Stork (1954) as Lilian Angel
- Devil Girl from Mars (1954) as Nyah
- 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956) as Miss Alice MacDonald
- Dial 999 (TV series) (1958) - ('The Killing Job') as Liz (billed as "Colleta's Girlfriend")
- Dial 999 (TV series) (1958) - ('Illegal Entry') as Baroness von Falkan
- Hidden Homicide (1959) as Jean Gilson
- Crooks in Cloisters (1964) as Lady Florence
Theatre
- 1937 repertory at Oxford and Worthing
- 1937 The Beggar's Opera (Jenny Diver), Oxford Playhouse (first stage appearance)
- 1937 Sweet Adversity (Nurse Gertrude), Q Theatre
- 1938 Surprise Item (Young Girl), Ambassadors (first London appearance)
- 1938 One Way Street (Nurse), Q Theatre
- 1939 Number Six (Stephanie), Aldwych Theatre
- 1939 Honeymoon for Three (Marjorie Saunders), Richmond
- 1939 Pericles (Diana), Open Air, Regent's Park
- 1941 The Women, Q Theatre
- 1941 The First Mrs Fraser (Mabel), on Marie Tempest's last tour
- 1942 Hay Fever (Myra), tour
- 1942 Other People's Houses (Annie), tour
- 1943 Androcles and the Lion (Lavinia), Arts Theatre
- 1943 Wuthering Heights (Isabella), tour
- 1943 Twelfth Night (Viola and Olivia), tour for CEMA
- 1944 How Are They at Home (Eileen Stokes), Apollo
- 1945 Hidden Horizon(Kay Mostyn), Wimbledon
- 1948 Corinth House (Madge Donnythorpe), New Lindsey
- 1948 Frolic Wind (Miss Vulliamy), Boltons
- 1949 Primrose and the Peanuts (Primrose Mallet), Playhouse
- 1950 New England Night (Helen Wetherell), New Lindsey
- 1951 Mary Had a Little. . . (the Princess), Strand
- 1960 The Golden Touch (Comtesse de St Marigny–Marbeaux), Piccadilly
- 1960 Innocent as Hell (Lady Parsley), Lyric, Hammersmith
Bibliography
MGM presents Quo Vadis (original film brochure • 20 pages, including covers) [ 1951 ]
Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen (The Amalgamated Press • London • 1956) p86
McFarlane, Brian (Ed): The Encyclopedia of British Film (BFI/Methuen • London • 2003/2005) pp395-396
References
- ^ a b Eder, Bruce. "Patricia Laffan, biography". AllMovie. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- ^ a b c d Films and Filming. 22 (8): 50. May 1976.
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(help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Life Story of Patricia Laffan". Picture Show & Film Pictorial: 12. 10 July 1954.
- ISBN 0-273-31528-5.
- ^ ISBN 0810304066.
- ^ a b "Patricia Laffan". BFI. Archived from the original on 6 December 2018.
- ^ "Patricia Laffan". BBC.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-6353-8.
- ISBN 0-8108-3636-X.
- ISBN 1-55783-269-2.
- )
- ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9.
- ^ "A 'Foundling' Blackett". The Blacketts of North East England. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
- ISBN 0-7190-5668-3.