Pat Carroll (actress)

Patricia Ann “Pat” Carroll (May 5, 1927 - July 30, 2022) was an American actress. She performed in numerous stage productions, and portrayed the roles of "Bunny Halper" on The Danny Thomas Show, Shirley Feeney's mother on Laverne and Shirley and was the voice of the villainess Ursula in The Little Mermaid Film Series.

She was also well-known for participating on TV game shows. Recent acting appearances were in three episodes of ER in which she played a bag lady and as Miep Gies in the film Freedom Writers. Hanna-Barbera fans may remember her as the voice of Katrina Stoneheart in the company's Pound 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 theme 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 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.

A member of the Actors Studio, 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 Theater 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."

Personal life
Carroll married Lee Karsian in 1955 and they had three children, including actress Tara Karsian. The marriage ended in 1976. In 1991 Carroll received an honorary doctorate from Siena College in Albany, New York. Carroll was a practicing Roman Catholic cited that her religious views helped her to determine what projects to accept. She was a lifelong Republican.

Death
Carroll died from pneumonia at her home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on July 30, 2022, at the age of 95.

Television

 * The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020) - Ursula (voice, episode "Keep on Rollin'")
 * 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")
 * ER (2005) - Rebecca Chadwick (3 episodes)
 * House of Mouse (2001–2002) - Ursula (voice, 3 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 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

 * Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (2010) - Voice
 * Nancy Drew (2007) - Landlady
 * Freedom Writers (2007) - Miep Gies
 * Outside Sales (2006) - Mrs. Poole
 * Mickey's House of Villains (2002) - Ursula (voice)
 * Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (2001) - Ursula (voice)
 * Songcatcher (2000) - Viney Butler
 * The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000) - Morgana (voice)
 * A Goofy Movie (1995) - Additional Voices (voice)
 * The Little Mermaid (1989) - Ursula (voice)
 * My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - Granny (voice - 2006 Disney re-dub)
 * The Brothers O'Toole (1973) - Callie Burdyne
 * With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) - Maxine Scott

Video games

 * Kingdom Hearts II (2005) - Ursula (voice)
 * Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004) - Ursula (voice)
 * Kingdom Hearts (2002) - Ursula (voice)