Pat Carroll

Early Life

Patricia Ann Carroll was born on May 5, 1927, in Shreveport, Louisiana, to Maurice Clifton Carroll and Kathryn Angela Meagher. At the age of five, her family relocated to Los Angeles, where she began her journey in acting through local productions. Carroll graduated from Immaculate Heart High School and later attended the Catholic University of America after serving as a civilian actress technician in the United States Army.

Career

Carroll's acting career took off in 1947, with her first credit as Lorelei Crawford in the 1948 film "Hometown Girl." She made her television debut in 1952 on "The Red Buttons Show" and achieved Broadway fame in 1955 with her performance in "Catch a Star!" which earned her a Tony Award nomination. Carroll won an Emmy Award in 1956 for her work on "Caesar's Hour" and became a familiar face on various sitcoms, including a regular role on "Make Room for Daddy" from 1961 to 1964. Her notable performances extended to the 1965 television production of "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" and a successful one-woman show in the late 1970s, which won her a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word. Carroll is perhaps best known for voicing Ursula in Disney's "The Little Mermaid."

Personal Life

In 1955, Carroll married Lee Karsian, with whom she had three children: Sean, Kerry, and actress Tara Karsian. The couple divorced in 1976. Carroll was known for her adventurous spirit, even becoming a "video game junkie" later in life after reading an article about gaming. She received an honorary doctorate from Siena College in 1991. Carroll passed away from pneumonia at her home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on July 30, 2022, at the age of 95.