Veteran actress Patricia Morrison dies at 103

Representational picture

Actress Patricia Morison, who starred in the original 1948 Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate and The King and I is dead. She was 103. Morison died of natural causes on Sunday at her home here, reports variety.com. Morison was born on March 15, 1915, in New York City. She was the daughter of playwright and actor William Morison and Selena Fraser, a British Intelligence agent during World War I. After graduating from high school, Morison took acting classes at the Neighbourhood Playhouse and made her stage debut at the Provincetown Playhouse in the musical revue Don't Mind the Rain.

She signed a contract with Paramount Pictures and made her feature film debut in the 1939 film Persons in Hiding. She starred in eight more films through 1942, including her first in the villainous role she would go on to inhabit as a femme fatale in Romance of the Rio Grande. She later landed roles in The Song of Bernadette, Hitler's Madman and The Fallen Sparrow, Calling Dr Death, Without Love, and Lady on a Train.

After appearing in several more films, Morison made her stage return in 1948 in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate opposite Alfred Drake, which even further cemented her notoriety and made her a bonafide Broadway star. Morison's career also expanded to include the television in the 1950s and 1960s, mainly in musical roles in variety shows, though she also had a recurring non-musical role in the 1952 series "The Cases of Eddie Drake" and appeared in a guest role on Have Gun - Will Travel.

In her later years, Morison took up her early passion of painting, with several showings in and around Los Angeles, New York and Japan. Never married, she lived here and continued to support theatre and organisations such as The Actors Fund, The LGBT Community Center, The Thaiians, and The Hollywood Museum.

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates