Gail Patrick

Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick (known as Gail Patrick, born June 20, 1911 in Birmingham - died July 6, 1980 in Los Angeles) was a film actress and television producer, best known for her roles as the "other woman" in My Man Godfrey (1936), Stage Door (1937), and My Favorite Wife (1940). She later co-produced the television series Perry Mason (1957 - 1966).

Fitzpatrick was born in Birmingham and graduated from Woodlawn High School and Howard College. She joined the faculty at Howard and rose to become Dean of Women there. She also studied pre-law at the University of Alabama before entering a Paramount-sponsored acting contest that inspired her to move to California to pursue a film career.

She joined Paramount as a contract actress, playing bit parts until finding her niche as the "second" woman, competing with the female lead for the attention of the male romantic interest. She landed a few leading roles as well, such as the female attorney in Disbarred (1939). During this period she married and divorced Robert Howard Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurant (1936-1940) and Arnold Dean White (1944-1945)

In 1947 she married Cornwll Jackson and, a year later, left acting for a new career in fashion design and clothing sales. She was successful marketing her designs to other celebrities from her home throughout the 1950s. Jackson was literary agent to Erle Stanley Gardner. Along with her husband she worked as a producer of the long-running television series based on Gardner's Perry Mason character. She declined Gardner's suggestion that she take the role of Mason's secretary, Della Street, which went to Barbara Hale. The show ended in 1966 and the marriage, during which the couple adopted two children, ended in divorce in 1969. She tried unsuccesfully to launch a "New Perry Mason" with Monte Markham in 1973.

Patrick wedded John E. Velde, Jr in 1974 and remained with him until her death, in 1980 of leukemia. Patrick was known as a philanthropist. She served as the honorary national chair for the Christmas Seals campaign in 1970, and served for almost 40 years on the Hollywood Board of Managers. She left a $1.1 million endowment to the Hollywood Wilshire YMCA, which named the Gail Patrick Memorial Teen Center and Park in her honor. She also left $1 million to the Delta Zeta sorority.

External links

• Gail Patrick at the Internet Movie Database