Luana Patten

Luana Patten (July 6, 1938 – May 1, 1996) was an American film actress.

Luana Patten
Born	July 6, 1938 Long Beach, California, U.S.
Died	May 1, 1996 (aged 57) Long Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1946-1968, 1988
Spouse(s)	Ronny Huntley ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1959)​ John Smith ​ ​ (m. 1960; div. 1964)​ Jerry D. Mays ​ ​ (m. 1970; div. 1973)​

Early years

Patten was born in Long Beach, California,[1] to Harvey T. Patten and Alma (née Miller) Patten, natives of Enid, Oklahoma. She attended Burbank High School and Hollywood Professional School.[1]

Career

At the age of three she was a model and later was hired by Walt Disney.[2] Patten made her first film appearance in the 1946 musical Song of the South[1] with Bobby Driscoll. They also appeared together in Song of the South's sister film So Dear to My Heart.

She appeared again with Bobby Driscoll in the Pecos Bill segment of Disney's Melody Time. In 1947, she appeared with Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, and Mortimer Snerd during the live action scenes in Fun and Fancy Free. When she grew up, she played Jody Weaver in Joe Dakota and Priscilla Lapham in Disney's 1957 Johnny Tremain. In 1958, Patten portrayed Elizabeth Buckley in the episode "Twelve Guns" of NBC's Cimarron City western television series. It was on Cimarron City that she met her future second husband, John Smith, whom she married two years later. The couple divorced in 1964.

In 1959, she played Abbie Fenton in the episode "Call Your Shot" of Wanted: Dead of Alive, starring Steve McQueen and the same year played Ruth in "The Ruth Marshall Story" season 3, episode 13 of Wagon Train that aired Dec 30, 1959. In 1960, she played Libby Halstead in Vincente Minnelli's Home from the Hill. In 1966, she played saloon girl Lorna Medford in the episode "Credit for a Kill" of Bonanza. In 1966, she had a small part as Nora White, the new bride of Whitey in Follow Me, Boys!. She also appeared in Fun and Fancy Free, A Thunder of Drums, and the Rawhide episode "Incident of the Druid Curse" on CBS. That year she also appeared on Perry Mason as defendant Cynthia Perkins in "The Case of the Scarlet Scandal". She retired from the film industry in 1968 except for a brief cameo in the 1988 film Grotesque.

Death

Patten died from respiratory failure at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, aged 57.[3] She is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Long Beach, California.[4]

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Song of the South	1946	Virginia "Ginny" Favers
Little Mister Jim	1947	Missey Choosey Glenson
Fun and Fancy Free	1947	Herself
Melody Time	1948	Herself
So Dear to My Heart	1948	Tildy
Rock, Pretty Baby	1956	Joan Wright
Johnny Tremain	1957	Priscilla Lapham
Joe Dakota	1957	Jody Weaver
The Restless Years	1958	Polly Fisher
The Young Captives	1959	Ann Howel
Home from the Hill	1960	Libby Halstead
The Music Box Kid	1960	Margaret Shaw
Go Naked in the World	1961	Yvonne Stratton
The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come	1961	Melissa Turner
A Thunder of Drums	1961	Tracey Hamilton
Shoot Out at Big Sag	1962	Hannah Hawker
Follow Me, Boys!	1966	Nora White
They Ran for Their Lives	1968	Barbara Collins
Grotesque	1988	Old Lady	(final film role)

References

1. "Meet Luana Patten, Starred at Tender Age". Detroit Free Press. Michigan, Detroit. February 23, 1957. p. 14. Retrieved 29 December 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Song of the South Interview on YouTube
3. Oliver, Myrna (May 7, 1996). "Luana Patten; Actress Began in Disney Films". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. p. 18. Retrieved 29 December 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Notice of death of Luana Patten, independent.co.uk; accessed April 18, 2015.

External links

• Luana Patten at IMDb
• Luana Patten at Find a Grave