Elizabeth Patterson (November 22, 1875 - January 31, 1966

Elizabeth Patterson was another marvelous character actress. She made her first film appearance in 1926 in the film The Boy Friend. Patterson continued in films and between 1926 and 1960 she appeared in 103 films. Her final film role was in 1960's Tall Story. The actress was 85 years old at the time. On television she guest starred on such shows as "The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre", "Studio One", "Stage 7", "Playhouse 90", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "77 Sunset Strip" and "Climax!." She appeared in two 1955 episodes of the "Adventures of Superman." In the episode "Olsen's Millions" she plays millionaire Mrs. Peabody who mistakenly believes Jimmy Olsen has saved her cat's life and rewards him with one million dollars. Her final television appearance was on "The Barbara Stanwyck Show" in 1961. After that the 86-year-old actress retired. On "I Love Lucy" she entered the television history books. In the season one episode "The Marriage Liscense" she played Mrs. Willoughby, the mayor of a small town somewhere between New York and Connecticut where Lucy and Ricky spend the night. The 1953 episode "No Children Allowed" was the first episode filmed after Lucille Ball had given birth in January of that year. In the episode Lucy and Ricky are at odds with elderly neighbor Mrs. Trumbull (Patterson) because Little Ricky's crying keeps her up all night. Mrs. Trumbull threatens to move but Ethel, remaining loyal to her friends, informs the elderly lady that she will stand by the Ricardos. Eventually Lucy and Ethel get into an argument over Ethel's constant bragging about how she stood up to Mrs. Trumbull. Eventually the Ricardos and the Mertzes rush out while arguing leaving Little Ricky crying in his crib. Mrs. Trumbull enters the apartment and the scenes cuts to the gang patching things up in the Mertzes apartment. Lucy then realizes that Little Ricky is downstairs alone! As they quietly tip toe into the room Lucy is shocked to see Mrs. Trumbull in the rocking chair holding the baby. She looks up and says "Mrs. Ricardo you should be ashamed of yourself. Running out and leaving this poor little child alone." She then looks down at the baby and says "Don't you worry dear, you'll always have me around to see that nobody leaves you alone again." The Ricardos and the Mertzes look at each other in amazement and smile as the curtain comes down. Mrs. Trumbull would go onto be Little Ricky's regular babysitter. She only appeared in ten episodes but the constant reference to her makes it seem like a lot more. She is left in charge of the Mertzes apartment building while they are in Hollywood and Europe. And she asks Lucy to pick her up a bottle of My Sin perfume while in France. She is mentioned for the final time in the episode "Lucy Raises Chickens." By this point the Ricardos have moved to Wesport, CT and the Mertzes plan to join them. When asked about their apartment building Ethel says that Mrs. Trumbull's sister wants to move in and manage the building. It is characters and actors like this that made "I Love Lucy" the wonderful show that it became. The four main cast members were marvelous but you needed characters like Caroline Appleby, Mrs. Trumbull, Mrs. McGillicuddy, Marion Strong, and Betty Ramsey to keep things interesting.