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Pat Carroll 1927 - 2022

Pat Carroll was born on May 5, 1927 in Shreveport, Louisiana United States. She was married to Lee Karsian on January 1, 1955 and they later divorced on September 8, 1976. She had children Sean R Karsian, Tara Karsian, and Kerry Karsian. Pat Carroll died at age 95 years old on July 31, 2022 at Cape Cod in Barnstable County, MA.

Pat Carroll

Patricia Ann Carroll

May 5, 1927

Shreveport, Louisiana, United States

July 31, 2022

Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States

Female

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Pat Carroll's History: 1927 - 2022

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Introduction

Pat's father was Maurice Clifton Carroll and her mother was Kathryn Angela (Meagher) Carroll. She began acting at age 5 when her family moved from Louisiana to Los Angeles. She married talent agent Lee Karsian in 1955. They had 3 children and they divorced in 1976. During the 1950's to the 1970's, Pat was all over television. Some of the shows were: Caesar's Hour, Make Room for Daddy, The Red Buttons Show, The Danny Kaye Show, The Red Skelton Show, and the Carol Burnett Show. She has been a fixture on tv, theater, and in cartoons, doing voice-over work (Pound Puppies, Scooby-Doo, Garfield, Ursula in The Little Mermaid, and more). She was active until her death. See an interview with her at She's the world's easiest interview - "Starstruck"
05/5

1927

Birthday

May 5, 1927

Birthdate

Shreveport, Louisiana United States

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

The riotous Pat Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1927, the daughter of Kathryn Angela Meagher and Maurice Clifton Carroll. Her family moved to Los Angeles when Pat was five, and there began performing in local stage productions. She graduated from Hollywood's Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girls Catholic school, then attended Immaculate College, also in Los Angeles, and Catholic University of America.
Nationality & Locations

US citizen - born in Louisiana
Early Life & Education

Pat attended Immaculate Heart High School as well as Catholic University of America
Religious Beliefs

Pat was a dedicated Roman Catholic.
Military Service

United States Army - civilian actress technician
Professional Career

Pat Carroll Comedian/actress Voiceovers Born May 5, 1927 in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA Died July 30, 2022 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA (Pneumonia) Birth Name Patricia Ann Angela Bridget Carroll Height 5' 2" (1.57 m) Mini Bio (1) She has played everything from chatterbox wives to wicked stepsisters on TV, and from Gertrude Stein to Shakespeare's Falstaff on stage. At age 80 plus, the plucky comedienne shows no signs of stopping any time soon. The riotous Pat Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1927, the daughter of Kathryn Angela Meagher and Maurice Clifton Carroll. Her family moved to Los Angeles when Pat was five, and there began performing in local stage productions. She graduated from Hollywood's Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girls Catholic school, then attended Immaculate College, also in Los Angeles, and Catholic University of America. Following her college graduation, she began performing comedy in nightclubs and gained early experience with appearances in resort areas. Her stage debut in 1947 with a role in "The Goose and the Gander" starring Gloria Swanson led to hundreds of stock roles. She made her off-Broadway debut in the play "Come What May" in 1950. Also a talented singer, she earned a Tony nomination for her Broadway work in the singing revue "Catch a Star" in 1955, and then enjoyed a number of brash showcases in such musicals as "On the Town," "Once Upon a Mattress" and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown". It was, however, the "golden age" of TV that truly took advantage of Pat's adroit talents. An initial "second banana" regular on the variety programs The Red Buttons Show (1952) and The Saturday Night Revue (1953), she copped an Emmy award for her work on Caesar's Hour (1954) as Howard Morris' wife and earned fine reviews from her recurring role on the sitcom The Danny Thomas Show (1953) playing Bunny Halper, the pert and plucky wife of Danny Thomas' nightclub manager Charlie Halper (Sid Melton). Pat's down-to-earth demeanor, chummy disposition and hearty, infectious laugh made her a popular guest on all the major talkfests and a welcomed panelist on such game shows as "You Don't Say," "To Tell the Truth," "I've Got a Secret" and "Password". In 1965, she co-starred on TV as one of the wicked stepsisters in the endearing Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Cinderella (1965), which starred Lesley Ann Warren as the princess-to-be. In later years she won recurring/regular roles on the last season of Too Close for Comfort (1980) [retitled in 1986 as "The Ted Knight Show"] and the Suzanne Somers' sitcom She's the Sheriff (1987). As a character actress, the cropped-blond comedienne never made much of a dent in film, which included supporting roles in With Six You Get Eggroll (1968) with Doris Day and The Brothers O'Toole (1973) with John Astin. In the late 1970s her career received a huge shot in the arm with the award-winning, one-woman show "Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein", which she also produced and won multiple theater awards, including the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk trophies. A complete departure from her usual comedy antics, audiences saw a burgeoning dramatic actress in the making. Taking the show on the road for four years, she also won a Grammy for her recorded version of the performance in 1981. She then returned to Broadway after thirty years to appear in the play "Dancing in the End Zone" (1985). Pat surprised her fans by continuing vigorously in this vein. She began taking on Shakespearean roles and earning critical acclaim. For her interpretations of Sir John Falstaff in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and the Nurse in "Romeo and Juliet" she won bookend Helen Hayes awards. A life member of The Actors Studio, other challenging stage roles over the years have included Volpone, Mother Courage (another Helen Hayes award), the Stage Manager in "Our Town" and the Chorus in a Broadway revival of "Electra". Still interested in tickling the funny bone on occasion, she has performed in a number of adaptations of the wacky musical comedy "Nunsense" playing the Reverend Mother. If this weren't enough, she has extended herself into directing, helming a musical version of "Alice in Wonderland" for The Kennedy Center, as well as productions of "Private Lives and "The Supporting Cast". Since the late 1980s Pat has become a voice-over favorite on numerous animated programs -- notably for Disney as the sea witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid (1989) and other voices in A Goofy Movie (1995). Into the millennium, the feisty character lady still gives voice life to many Disney related characters and in video games and special projects. Some elderly film work includes Outside Sales (2006), Freedom Writers (2007), Nancy Drew (2007), Bridesmaids (2011) and BFFs (2014). More recently she guested on the drama series ER (1994) and provided the voice of Old Lady Crowley in the Disney TV animated series Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (2017). She has three children (oldest son Sean and daughters Kerry and Tara) by late husband Lee Karsian, a one-time manager and talent agent. Tara Karsian is a character actress from stage, film and TV. Kerry Karsian' is a casting director. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / [contact link] Family (2) Spouse Lee Karsian (1 January 1955 - 8 September 1976) (divorced) Mother of Tara Karsian, Kerry Karsian and Sean Karsian (deceased 2009.) Trade Mark (1) Distinctive laughter Trivia (12) Was nominated for Broadway's 1956 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical) for "Catch a Star". Performed in nearly 200 stock and regional theater productions before she made her Broadway debut in 1955. As a devout Roman Catholic, her religious views inform her choice of what roles to accept, and in which productions, to appear. Has been directing since age 15, when she adapted scripts and staged them for the Catholic Actors Guild in Los Angeles, California. Spent some time touring with United States Army productions as a "civilian actress technician" in post-war years. During the summers from 1951-1953, she starred at a famous launching pad for comic talent, the Tamiment resort in Pennsylvania, where Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca got their early training. Attended and graduated from Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, California. Received her Bachelor's degree in Acting from the Catholic University of America. Received an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts from Siena College in Albany, New York. She is a lifelong Republican. In honor of her 95th birthday on May 5, 2022, she was recognized with her name being cited first, and foremost, in national Born on This Day mention columns. Personal Quotes (13) [About Ursula in The Little Mermaid (1989)] Many people call her an octopus and I'm so knowledgeable, I have to correct. She is not an octopus, she is a squid. And they ask what that means. She has six tentacles instead of eight which makes it less expensive to draw. (About The Little Mermaid (1989)) I had wanted all my life to work in a Disney film. So when I was contacted by the agent and he asked if I would like to audition I said "That's an answer to prayer. Of course I would!". [on Irwin Corey] Oh my, there was no one like Irwin Corey. And he's still going strong in his 90s. He had the most unusual act in the entire theatrical heaven. The man was audacious. That's all I can tell you, absolutely audacious. I would watch him work and I couldn't figure him out. The audiences adored him because he was a constant surprise. He was an intellectual irritant. He would make you think whether you wanted to or not. He was amazing and he still is. [on John Carradine] Carradine would work at anything if it turned a buck. He was an admirable guy. He drank too much, God bless him. So did a lot of people in those days. But the man was a good actor, he loved poetry and he loved [William Shakespeare]. I could not discount him. I enjoyed him. I found him a great raconteur. A very interesting man and a wonderful actor. [on Jimmy Durante] I was sitting in a restaurant with him in New York when we were rehearsing the [Max Liebman] show and people were coming in off the street when they heard Durante was in there. Cops, taxi drivers, businessmen, mothers with kids. He just sat and held court for all these people. [on Max Liebman] He could be very tough, but it was because he was a perfectionist. One time we had words. He called later and apologized, which showed he was a gentleman and a mensch, because he was wrong and I knew it. We shook hands mentally and we had no problems from there on in. But he was a perfectionist and wouldn't take anything less than the best from anybody. I loved working for him. I got to work with people like Marcel Marceau, for heaven's sake. Jack Buchanan, Jimmy Durante and the quality of stars he got for his specials was just extraordinary. [on Jimmy Durante] Oh, how I adored Jimmy Durante since I was a child. I loved that man. I think it was the purity of him. He was who he was--and it showed. What a good man. I was doing one of the [Max Liebman] specials with Jimmy and the first day I was so in awe of him that I could barely speak. He was such a natural human being that you just had to relax around him. He made no one starchy. On the second day I was clowning around and he said, "Pat! I want you to come on my TV show!" And I thought, "Oh, isn't he cute. He's just being nice." The Morris office called me the next day and said, "Jimmy called and he wants you to do his show." I was so thrilled . . . oh my God! That thrilled me. My parents did not have a TV set. They went out and bought a television just because I was going to be on the Durante show. I told them, "Come see the show and I'll introduce you to Jimmy. I just love him so much and I know you've always loved him. Come see the show." So they didn't get to see me on TV because we didn't have recorders then. So they came to the show. We rehearsed all week at Jimmy's house. His whole place was just full of warmth and nostalgia. It was Jimmy. Here we are, it's a show my parents have come to and they're sitting up in the bleachers. Jimmy did the warm-up for the show and he was out there. He said, "Folks! I met a little girl while I was in New York doing a Liebman show . . . I liked her so much I asked her to come out here and be on my show. I'd like you to meet her! Pat Crowley!" I was standing next to the director and producer and my jaw fell. The producer shrugged and said, "Pat, that's the way he is. He can't remember names." So I walked on and said, "Jimmy, that was the nicest introduction, but I must correct you because my mom and dad are sitting up in the bleachers. My name isn't Pat Crowley." He said, "What is it?" I said, "Pat Carroll." He said, "Well then who the hell is Pat Crowley?" [on Robert Q. Lewis] He tickled me. He was like the head reporter from a college paper. He had so much energy and how he loved what he did. I just admire people that love what they do. I don't care if it's digging ditches. I don't care if it's pushing a pencil. If you love what you do, I'm on your side and Bob Q. Lewis loved what he did. [on Henry Morgan] What a sly-puss of a gentleman. Oh, he was a delightful humorist. I loved to see his eyes twinkle when he was tickled about something. I think the man was highly underrated. I think he was so much better than people thought he was. He was a very clever man, a very intelligent man, and he had a wildly inventive humor. I totally enjoyed anything and everything he did. A pleasure working with him. [on Danny Kaye] Danny Kaye was a masterful showman. I don't think there was anybody else around at that time that had Danny's abilities or qualities. When I worked on a show with him I was pregnant. I remember he announced in the warm-up that I was expecting. To the audience he said, "Does daddy know?" I could have killed Danny Kaye, but the man was awfully good at what he did. Danny Kaye was an artist and that's all there was to it. [on Red Skelton] One of God's great clowns. That man would perform on a street corner for three people. I never worked with anybody who enjoyed performing as much as that man did. The man just had a twinkle. He had a little devil in him. He loved to create a ruckus and the man would perform for just one person--with joy. [on Sid Melton] That was another nervous nellie, God bless him. He had done [The Danny Thomas Show (1953)] long before I ever appeared on the scene. He was a nervous wreck! I practically had to hold his hand and pat his brow. He'd go on and you'd think nothing was wrong. But he was so nervous. If I had been like him in any way you would have heard chattering teeth, that's just how nervous he was. But he was fun and he was a good actor and he knew exactly what his place was and played that to the nth degree. He was a wonderful companion. He really was. I always got a kick out of Sid. [on working on Cinderella (1965)] It came the wedding scene with the horses and the horses misbehaved. Our director [Charles S. Dubin] came on the squawk box and said, "Everybody take five. Get the prop man and let's clean this up." So we all waited five minutes and then again on the squawk box, "Could somebody please get Joe and we'll clean this up so we can get on with the session!" Finally, Joe comes on set with the shovel and he stands there looking at this devastation. Finally the director says, "Joe, what is the problem?" He said, "Well, until it stops steaming it belongs to special effects." See also
07/31

2022

Death

July 31, 2022

Death date

Old Age (95); pneumonia

Cause of death

Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts United States
Death location

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Obituary

Pat Carroll, TV Mainstay Turned Stage Star, Dies at 95 Tired of sitcoms and game shows, she reinvented herself in a one-woman show about Gertrude Stein — and, later, in a gender-bending Shakespeare role. By Jo Craven McGinty July 31, 2022, 6:57 p.m. ET Pat Carroll, who after many years on television as the self-described “dowager queen of game shows” went on to earn critical acclaim for her work on the stage, died on Saturday at her home on Cape Cod, Mass. She was 95. Her daughter Kerry Karsian, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. She did not specify the cause. Ms. Carroll broke into television as a sketch comedian in the 1950s and later became a fixture on “Password,” “I’ve Got a Secret” and other game shows. She was also seen frequently on sitcoms like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and dramas like “Police Woman.” But a part she took in 1977, when she was 50, inspired her to change direction. In a 1979 interview with The New York Times, she recalled being cast as Pearl Markowitz, an overly protective mother, on the short-lived comedy “Busting Loose,” and asking herself, “Is this all there is left — playing mothers on TV?” Rather than sinking comfortably into that stereotype, Ms. Carroll provided a bold answer to her own question by commissioning Marty Martin, a young Texas playwright, to write a one-woman play for her about the poet Gertrude Stein. “Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein” opened Off Broadway in 1979 and received glowing reviews. Ms. Carroll won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards in 1980 for the performance, and in 1981 her recording of the play won a Grammy Award in the “best spoken word” category. “It was the jewel in my crown,” Ms. Carroll said in an interview for this obituary in 2011, recalling how the play came about. “I was recently divorced, I had gained a lot of weight, and the phone was not ringing. It was not the agents’ or directors’ or producers’ fault that the phone was not ringing. I thought, ‘I am responsible for creating some kind of work.’ And I began thinking of people to do.” A decade later, Ms. Carroll, still looking for challenging work, sought out the role of the conniving, overweight — and, obviously, male — Falstaff in a production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” in Washington. “When Ms. Carroll makes her first entrance,” Frank Rich wrote in The Times, “a nervous silence falls over the audience at the Shakespeare Theater at the Folger here, as hundreds of eyes search for some trace of the woman they’ve seen in a thousand television reruns. What they find instead is a Falstaff who could have stepped out of a formal painted portrait: a balding, aged knight with scattered tufts of silver hair and whiskers, an enormous belly, pink cheeks and squinting, froggy eyes that peer out through boozy mists. The sight is so eerie you grab onto your seat.” “One realizes,” Mr. Rich continued, “that it is Shakespeare’s character, and not a camp parody, that is being served.” Patricia Ann Carroll was born on May 5, 1927, in Shreveport, La., and grew up in Los Angeles. Her father, Maurice, worked for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power; her mother, Kathryn (Meagher) Carroll, worked in real estate and office management. Ms. Carroll attended Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles on an English scholarship but left before graduating. “I realized that what I was learning was not going to advance what I wished to do,” she said in 2011. “I always thought experience was the best preparation.” In 1947, Ms. Carroll left Los Angeles for Plymouth, Mass., where she worked at the Priscilla Beach Theater and, she said, ate, drank and breathed the theater. She made her professional stage debut there that year in “A Goose for the Gander,” starring Gloria Swanson. Soon after, she made it to New York, where, among other odd jobs, she shined shoes. She initially made her mark in the early 1950s as a comedian — first at Le Ruban Bleu, the Village Vanguard and other nightclubs, then on television, on “The Red Buttons Show” and other variety series. She was a regular on the Sid Caesar sketch show “Caesar’s Hour,” for which she won an Emmy in 1957, and, in the early 1960s, on “The Danny Thomas Show,” on which she played the wife of the Thomas character’s manager. Ms. Carroll made the first of her four Broadway appearances in 1955 in “Catch a Star!,” a revue written by Neil and Danny Simon. Her performance did not win the kind of notices that foreshadow stage success: Brooks Atkinson of The Times, for example, wrote that she did not have “a bold enough technique to come alive in the theater.” The response was different in 1959 when she played Hildy, the flirtatious cabdriver who tries to persuade a shy sailor on 24-hour shore leave to come to her apartment with the song “I Can Cook, Too,” in a revival of the Leonard Bernstein-Betty Comden-Adolph Green musical “On the Town” at the Carnegie Hall Playhouse. “If the evening has a star,” Arthur Gelb of The Times wrote, “it is Pat Carroll, a blue-eyed blonde with a genius for the deadpan and double take.” Ms. Carroll’s work at the Folger Theater garnered her three Helen Hayes Awards: outstanding lead actress for her roles in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage and Her Children” and outstanding supporting actress for her role as the nurse in “Romeo and Juliet.” Ms. Carroll married Lee Karsian, a William Morris agent, in 1955. The couple, who divorced in 1975, had three children: a son, Sean, who died in 2009, and two daughters, Kerry Karsian and Tara Karsian, who survive her. Ms. Carroll played an Appalachian grandmother in the film “Songcatcher.” The role earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Although she spent most of her career on television (where her later work included appearances on “ER” and “Designing Women”) and the stage, Ms. Carroll also had some memorable roles on the big screen. In 1968 she played Doris Day’s sister in “With Six You Get Eggroll.” In 2000 she played an Appalachian grandmother in “Songcatcher,” a role that earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival. For many of her film and TV performances, Ms. Carroll went unseen: She provided voices for numerous cartoon characters, most notably Ursula, the menacing sea witch, in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” in 1989. That role, she once said, was “the one thing in my life that I’m probably most proud of.” “I don’t even care if, after I’m gone, the only thing that I’m associated with is Ursula,” she added. “That’s OK with me, because that’s a pretty wonderful character and a pretty marvelous film to be remembered by.”

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Pat Carroll lived 23 years longer than the average family member when died at the age of 95.

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6 Memories, Stories & Photos about Pat

Rodgers & Hammerstein Cinderella 1965 Step Sisters Lament

Daniel Pinna

10.5k+ favorites

08/02/2022

Rodgers & Hammerstein Cinderella 1965 Step Sisters Lament

I'll always remember this scene and song from Rodgers & Hammerstein 1965 Cinderella. Pat Carroll playing "Prunella" in The Step Sisters Lament song.

"Why would a fellow want a girl like her?
A frail and fluffy beauty?
Why can't a fellow ever once prefer
A solid girl like me?!"

Date & Place: 1965

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Daniel Pinna

10.5k+ favorites

08/02/2022

I guess I'm getting older...I can't believe Pat Carroll was only 38 when she played Prunella in Rodgers & Hammerstein 1965 Cinderella.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

07/31/2022

Pat Carroll.

In Cinderella.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

07/31/2022

Pat Carroll

Actress.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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AncientFaces

411 favorites

08/02/2022

Generations were entertained by a comedy legend who passed last weekend on July 31. From the tv show "Make Room For Daddy" to Ursula in Disney's "The Little Mermaid", her almost 90 year career touched so many lives.

Married to a William Morris talent agent for 20 years, and with 3 high school aged children, Pat Carroll (1927 - 2022) was left on her own in 1976 to support her family. She fell back on her talents and what she knew - she had been performing since the age of 5. She just got up, dusted herself off, and "started all over again". Not only funny, she was also one plucky lady!

She made us laugh and she made us shiver in her wicked animated roles. Pat Carroll, you were one of a kind and you will be missed. RIP. Discover more about Pat's life .

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08/02/2022

She was in the movie " Song Catcher" .. you must watch it ❤️

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Amanda S. Stevenson

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07/31/2022

I saw her one woman showas GERTRUDE STEIN and it was great!

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Kathy Pinna

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06/03/2021

Pat Carroll

Actress/comedianne/voice-over artist Pat Carroll

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Kathy Pinna

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06/03/2021

She's the world's easiest interview - "Starstruck"

By Jack Major

I’ve often wondered why certain performers become superstars, while others, who appear to be just as talented (or nearly so) become supporting players, or well-known might-have-beens.

When I interviewed Pat Carroll in 1962, she had already settled — rather comfortably, it seemed — into supporting roles, playing Bunny Halper, wife of Danny Thomas’s manager, Charley Halper (Sid Melton) on “Make Room for Daddy.” She also had launched a successful career in what I consider invisible roles — providing voices in commercials and cartoons.

Since then she has been the voice of dozens of animated characters, most notably, perhaps, Ursula in “The Little Mermaid” and several Disney projects since then.

But had the right project come along in the late 1950s, Pat Carroll might well have been a Lucille Ball-kind of television star instead of a Vivian Vance-kind of second banana.

She was born Patricia Ann Angela Bridget Carroll on May 5, 1927 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was five. She went to Immaculate College and Catholic University, then immediately into acting. While she has played a wide variety of roles in her career, it was obvious from the start that Pat Carroll had a flair for comedy, which made her an in-demand guest on such programs as “The Red Skelton Hour,” “The Danny Kaye Show,” “The Carol Burnett Show,” “Love, American Style,” and just about every game show there was. She won an Emmy for her work with Sid Caesar on his series, "Caesar's Hour" in 1957.

She also made 20 appearances on “The Jack Paar Tonight Show,” and when I met her she was spending a week in Cleveland as co-host of “The Mike Douglas Show.” I think it was the third interview I conducted after I completed my brief stint in the Army — six months of active duty followed by five-and-half years in the Reserves — and despite my inexperience, Ms. Carroll made it look easy. That’s because the woman loves to talk.

Akron Beacon Journal, February 25, 1962

Pat Carroll could be described as an instant performer. All she needs is an audience. One person will do.

Her stories pour out like practiced routines as she gestures wildly with both hands. Her head bobs up and down constantly as she grins and grimaces to emphasize her statements, both comic and serious.

The ease with which she breaks into a performance has been beneficial to co-workers and her booking agency as well. Her agents don’t hesitate to book her for almost any job.

“They just call me and tell me to be at such-and-such place and such-and-such time,” she said, “and I just go. A lot of time I don’t know what I’ll be doing, but it usually works out fine.” (Up went her right hand in a nonchalant gesture.)

Her flexibility keeps her busy. She appears regularly as Mrs. Charley Halper on “The Danny Thomas Show”; is a frequent Jack Paar guest, and recently was co-host of “The Mike Douglas Show.”

She also supplies the voices used on many commercials and recently worked on an animated cartoon show being prepared for the fall season.

“The money I got from the cartoon show was almost like stealing,” she said, chuckling. “It was so easy and so much fun. And I don’t even recall the name of the show,” she added with a mug and casual shrug of her shoulders.

“I just do what I’m asked to do in this business, because every experience could be valuable later on. You never know when the tube will call or when there’ll be an opening on a good show.” Up went both hands.

The “tube,” of course, was her reference to television, the medium she credits for the biggest boost in her career. Her first national recognition came as a result of her regular clowning on “The Red Buttons Show” during the 1952-53 season.
“But you don’t learn anything from television,” she snapped. “You have to learn FOR television.” She made the point by pounding her right fist against an imaginary podium in front of her.

“As a stage and nightclub performer, I learned things from the audience, and I could adjust my act from night to night. But in television — whoosh!” Up flew her hands again. “One shot and you’ve had it. There is no second chance. No good, no show.”
Her willingness to improve and expand her career sometimes backfires.

“My agents wanted me to put together a nightclub act,” she recalled. “They told me I’d be a smash in Las Vegas and make all kinds of money.” She flashed a wide smile that abruptly disappeared with her next sentence.

“I believed them, and I worked on some material which I tried out in Philadelphia. But I bombed. I mean, no one has ever bombed like I did in Philadelphia. I was so terrible; I don’t ever want to go back to nightclub work. That takes guts, and that kind of guts I don’t have.”

She'd had some success in nightclubs previously, but now prefers to do things that will allow her time for family. She is married to Lee Karsian and they have two children, son Sean, born in 1956, and daughter Kerry, born in 1957.

“I like family life,” she said, suddenly taking on the appearance of a mother about to introduce herself to an elementary school principal. “I have a boy who is five and a girl who is four, and I’m not going to go all-out for a career until the children are old enough to take care of themselves.

“I’m going to have another baby, too,” she added, “but that’s strictly on ‘The Danny Thomas Show.’ I’m surprised how many people identify me with that show and think I’m really expecting another child. Women look at me kind of funny and ask when I’m going to have the baby, then they inspect me like this.”

She thrust her head forward and took a close-up look at the stomach section of someone sitting next to her.

“Women are always suspicious,” she said.

She moved from New York to Hollywood before she knew she’d be part of the Thomas show. Moving was her husband’s idea.

“He was born in Massachusetts, but he’s a nut about California,” she said. “He came home one day last winter after we were snowed in for four days, and said, ‘Honey, we’re not going through another winter like this. So we moved to California.” She paused a few seconds made a face and continued. “And since we’ve been there, they’ve had one cataclysmic fire and a major flood.”

When she left Cleveland, she went to New York City to record a few commercial jingles and to work out plans for a short summer stock tour.”

“I don’t know what shows I’ll be doing or where I’ll be doing them” she said, “but I enjoy working in a good musical.”
She’d eventually like to do a musical comedy on Broadway, but admits she’s happy performing anywhere, just so long as there’s an audience.

She said she’s been like that since her childhood when she played the accordion in amateur shows. Miss Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, 34 years ago, but grew up in the Los Angeles area. She joined various theater groups during her teens, and later, at age 20, became a civilian actress technician for the U. S. Army.

“I joined to see the world,” she said, “but you guessed it! I worked in the states.”

She directed soldiers’ shows at bases throughout the seven states in the Second Army area.

“I had lots of authority,” she laughed, “because I was boss over everyone, even the officers, when it came to one of my shows.”

She left the Army in 1949 and moved to New York “to conquer the big city.”

Two years later, she retreated to a small nightclub in eastern Pennsylvania, which turned out to be a very smart move. Scouts for “The Red Buttons Show” caught her act, and buy the fall of 1952, at age 25, Pat Carroll was trading quips with the comedian who was the star of one of television’s hottest shows.

She later joined Sid Caesar on “Caesar’s Hour” and went on Broadway in “Catch a Star” and “On the Town.”

Other television shots included being on the panels of “Masquerade Party” and “Keep Talking.”

Now she has an eye out for possible movie roles.

“I thought I had chances for two films but was told I was too young for one part, too old for the other. I hope they make up their minds before it’s too late for anything.”

Apparently that cartoon show she worked on never made it to the home screen; at least, I find not record of it being shown. So, when I interviewed her two years and ten months later — this time over the telephone — she mentioned another cartoon show, which, if it were picked up by a network, would mark her debut in the lucrative market of providing voices for animated films.

Akron Beacon Journal, December 20, 1964

Occasionally I’m asked how I find things to ask performers who call the newspaper for interviews set up by various publicity people. Does it take a special talent to talk to celebrities?

I’ll answer that question by recounting my most recent telephone interview . . . with comedienne Pat Carroll. I think you’ll see that; indeed, a special talent is required.

Miss Carroll, of course, has a long television background, having co-starred on programs with Red Buttons, Sid Caesar and Danny Thomas. Last week’s telephone call was set up by Isobel Silden of the Rogers and Cowan public relations company in hope of calling attention to her recent appearance on “The Danny Kaye Show.”

Our conversation began in familiar fashion.

“Hello. Jack Major? This is Pat Carroll.”

“Hi, Pat Carroll. This is Jack Major.”

“How’s the weather in Akron, Jack?”

“Just dandy, Pat. It’s snowing, but the weatherman says the temperature might skyrocket to 33 degrees before the day is through.”

“Heh, heh, heh. It’s 72 degrees here, and I’m in the process of changing the water in my swimming pool. Heh, heh, heh.” (It was 11 a.m. California time.)

That is the worst thing about calls from California. Everyone out there is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. They have absolutely no sympathy for residents of the Snow Belt.

Just then Ms. Carroll — aka Mrs. Lee Karsian — was interrupted by one of her children who had the day off from parochial school because it was a Catholic Holy Day.

As many Catholics are doing these days, she and I briefly discuss the new Mass. She was strongly in favor of it; I was skeptical. It took about eight minutes of chit-chat before we got around to the subject of the call, “The Danny Kaye Show,” and we finished that subject in about 67 seconds, which was long enough for her to say she was thrilled to work on what is widely regarded as TV’s finest program, and to add she got a big kick out of being reunited with Howard Morris, who also was a Kaye guest that night.

“Howard and I worked on Sid Caesar’s show, you know. Now Howard is one of our most promising television directors. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.”

There was a brief pause, but she punctured it with a booming, “OH! I MUST TELL YOU ABOUT ANOTHER SHOW! I just finished taping ‘Cinderella’ with Walter Pidgeon, Ginger Rogers, Jo Van Fleet and Celeste Holm and two young people who are sure to become big stars — Lesley Warren and Stuart Damon. The program is a special to be shown February 22.

“CBS got its color cameras out of mothballs to do the show, and I think they did a beautiful job. They should have. I think they spent about $500,000 on it. It took us five days to tape the show, and we worked nine days altogether, counting rehearsals. Once the crew worked 38 hours straight.

“That’s a very long time to do a television show, and when we were through, the program became known as the children’s ‘Cleopatra.’

“Hey! I’m really excited about those kids. Lesley Warren is just 18 years old, and she’s a cross between Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn, and that’s pretty good crossbreeding. And Stuart Damon is a young Lawrence Olivier and he’s good-looking and can really sing and . . .”

“Enough!” I broke in. “Tell me about your own role . . . your own plans.”

“Oh, I play one of the wicked stepsisters,” she said, dismissing her role in one sentence. “Lessee . . . my plans. Haven’t you heard? I’ve become the publicity agent for Lesley Warren and Stuart Damon.”

From there, Miss Carroll delivered a brief lecture for the benefit of any young performers who somehow might have tapped into our conversation.

“You’ve got to be prepared for stardom,” she said. “Lesley and Stuart are. They’ve been performing almost all their lives. Too many people believe they’ll be discovered sitting on a stool at a soda fountain. They’ve got to realize wishing doesn’t make it so. They’ve got to work for success. And it might take years.”
Lecture ended, she began outlining her plans.

“I’m going to make another tour of the panel show circuit. Say what you will about panel show, but its fun working on them. And it’s easy. You know, I’m everyone’s second-stringer. Whenever a guest has to cancel out of a panel show, I’m called to fill in. And I’m scheduled to do another Kaye show in February, but before that I’ll probably go to Europe with my husband. It will be my first trip to Europe.”

It won’t exactly be a pleasure trip. Her husband will accompany one of his clients, rock ‘n’ roll singer Bobby Jameson, on a European tour.

“Like most young singers these days, Bobby has that long, long hair. It's a very light brown, almost blond. Who knows? He may be another Sandra Dee. Tell me, is there really a Sandra Dee.

“These names get me. Sandra Dee. Troy Donahue. Tuesday Weld. Rock Hudson. There’s a talent agency out here called Ashley-Famous; the first time I heard of it, no foolin’, I thought it was the name of a new movie star. And why not? Ashley-Famous is a catchy name.”

Without missing a beat, she changed subjects again.

“I’m talking with four companies about doing pilot films for TV shows. I’m interested in two of them, but the other two are pretty bad. I probably should do one of the bad ones. It will almost surely be sold. I mean, hav you watched television this season? Isn’t it awful? Have you ever seen anything worse than ‘The Munsters’?

“I can’t figure it out. The best new shows are ‘Slattery’s People’, ‘The Man from UNCLE’ and ‘The Rogues’ — and they’re all in rating trouble. I dunno. Maybe it’s just my taste. I just don’t like any of the new shows that is a hit.

“And talk about bad taste!” she charged on. “If you really want to ruin your taste, get a color television set. You find you’ll watch anything — so long as it’s in color. Last week I watched one of the all-time horrible movies. George Sanders’ brother (Tom Conway) was in it, so you know how bad it was, but I sat through the whole thing just because it was color.”

She took a deep breath — then plunged in again.

“By the way, I’m hoping to break into the cartoon business next season. I’m one of the voices on a cartoon show that we hope will be on the air next year. We haven’t heard anything definite, though. I’m also continuing to do voices for animated commercials. That’s a nice racket. I got to New York for one week every year to do commercials — and then get paid for them the other 51 weeks.

“I enjoy making commercials, and not just for the money. Honestly, I think commercials are the most creative and entertaining things on the air these days. How can you beat that coffee commercial with Lauren Bacall and Jason Robards Jr. I think it’s the funniest thing on TV. It’s like instant person-to-person. ‘Why, hello out there. We’re so glad you could drop in tonight. Want to see our home? Well, over here we have our pot of instant coffee. Do you want to know how I make my instant coffee? Well, it’s like this . . . ”

It was obvious Pat Carroll could have kept talking all day, but it was now past noon and she had to get lunch for her children. The call had gone some 63 minutes, making the telephone company richer by approximately $35.

And how was I able to get a television star to talk to me that long?

Simply by saying, “Hello.”

Once again, she mentioned a cartoon series that apparently was not picked up by a network, though she eventually provided a voice for Ms. Biddy McBrain in the animated series, “Galaxy High School” (1986); Hazel in “Foofur” (1986-87); Katrina Stoneheart on “Pound Puppies” (1986-87): Ursula in a “Little Mermaids” series (1993-94), and Old Lady Crowley in “Tangled: The Series” (2017-18).

She also continued to work in several prime time shows, and was a semi-regular in “Getting Together,” with Bobby Sherman (1971-72); “Busting Loose,” with Adam Arkin (1977); “Too Close for Comfort,” with Ted Knight (1986-87), and “She’s the Sheriff,” with Suzanne Somers (1987-89). She made three guest appearances on “ER” in 2005.

She had a third child, Tara, in 1965, but in 1976 she and Lee Karsian were divorced. Her daughter, Kerry Karsian, became a casting director, while Tara became an actress, who has made appearances on several television shows, and was a semi-regular in “Review” (2014-17) and “Doubt” (2017). Son Sean died in 2009, at the age of 53.

At the time of this writing, Pat Carroll was 92 years old.

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