Shirley Gladys Patterson (December 26, 1922 – April 4, 1995), sometimes billed as Shawn Smith, was a Canadian-born B-movie actress of the 1940s and 1950s.

Early years

Born on December 26, 1922, in Winnipeg, Canada, Patterson grew up in Eastend, Saskatchewan. She was the daughter of druggist Benjamin Patterson. The family moved to Los Angeles because of her father's health problems, and she finished her education there.

Career

Patterson began her acting career after being a beauty contestant in pageants in California from 1939 to 1940. In 1940, she won the Miss California Pageant, making a total of 15 contest victories. She was disqualified later when it was found she was underage. The second-place contestant (Rosemary LaPlanche) won the Miss America Pageant in 1941.

She signed a contract with Columbia Pictures after a talent scout saw her perform in a little theater production. Her career spanned 40 films, a few television appearances, and a serial.

Patterson played the role of heroine, Linda Page, in the 1943 15-chapter Batman serial. In 1944, she starred in The Vigilantes Ride with Russell Hayden and Bob Wills. In 1946, she accompanied Eddie Dean and Roscoe Ates in the movie Driftin River, and starred with them again the same year in Tumbleweed Trail, as well as Stars Over Texas. She also was Dean's object of affection in the song "Let's Go Sparkin'" from the 1947 movie Black Hills.

Patterson played Poppea, Nero's consort, in a nonspeaking role in The Silver Chalice (1954). Two of her last films were the 1957 movie The Land Unknown and the 1958 science-fiction movie It! The Terror from Beyond Space. Shortly after the close of filming in 1958 while skiing at Lake Arrowhead, California, she suffered a severely broken leg. She was in a full leg cast for a year and then a half cast for another six months, effectively ending her acting career.

Personal life and death

From September 10, 1947 until their divorce in February 1971, Patterson was married to Alfred Fuller Smith, Jr. They had one child, Alfred F. Smith III (nickname,”Tory”). In April 1979, she married John Laurence Bodette.

On April 4, 1995, at age 72, following a long battle with cancer, Patterson died at Hospice House, North Broward Medical Center (located in Pompano Beach, Florida), where she had been brought from her home in nearby Fort Lauderdale. She was survived by Bodette, by her son Alfred Smith III, and by four stepsons from her second marriage.

Filmography

References

External links

• Shirley Patterson at b-westerns.com