Patricia Medina


Patricia Paz Maria Medina was a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the films Phantom of the Rue Morgue and Mr. Arkadin.

Early life

Medina was born on 19 July 1919 in Liverpool, England, as the daughter of Laureano Ramón Medina Nebot, a Spanish lawyer and opera singer from the Canary Islands, and an English mother, Edith May Strode. Patricia had two sisters, Pepita "Piti" and Gloria Nebot. Born in Liverpool, her sisters and she grew up at a mansion in Stanmore. Medina began acting as a teenager in the late 1930s, and worked her way up to leading roles in the mid-1940s, when she left London for Hollywood.

Career

In 1950's Fortunes of Captain Blood, she teamed with British actor Louis Hayward. They subsequently appeared together in 1951's The Lady and the Bandit, Lady in the Iron Mask, and Captain Pirate from 1952.
Medina was often typecast in period melodramas such as The Black Knight. Two of her films were William Witney's Stranger at My Door and Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin, based on episodes of the radio series The Adventures of Harry Lime, itself derived from The Third Man film.
Although prolific during the early 1950s, her film career faded by the end of the decade. In 1958, she performed in four episodes as Margarita Cortazar on Walt Disney's ABC series, Zorro. In 1958, she also appeared as "The Lady" Diana Coulter in Richard Boone's CBS Western series, Have Gun – Will Travel. She was then cast in an episode of Darren McGavin's NBC Western series, Riverboat. In 1960, she was cast as different characters in two episodes of the ABC Western series, The Rebel. Medina also made television appearances on Perry Mason ; Bonanza, Thriller, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Medina guest starred as Ruthanne Harper in "Incident of the Boomerang" in 1961 and Ilona Calvin in "Incident at Jacob's Well" in 1959, on Rawhide. She guest-starred in the Branded episode "Yellow for Courage" in 1966 and the Burke's Law episode "Don Pablo" in 1964.
In 1968, she returned to the big screen in The Killing of Sister George, Robert Aldrich's adaptation of the lesbian-themed drama of the same name.

Autobiography

In 1998, she published an autobiography, Laid Back in Hollywood.

Personal life

Medina married British actor Richard Greene on 24 December 1941, in St. James's Church, Spanish Place, London; they divorced in 1951. Medina married Joseph Cotten on 20 October 1960, in Beverly Hills at the home of David O. Selznick and Jennifer Jones. Cotten and she bought an historic 1935 home in the Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs, California, where they lived from 1985 to 1992. No children were born from either marriage.

Death

Medina died at age 92 on 28 April 2012, from natural causes at the Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles, California.
She was interred at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia, beside the remains of her husband, Cotten.

Filmography

Dinner at the Ritz – Mr. Satan – A GirlSimply Terrific – Heather CarfaxDouble or Quits – CarolineThis Man Is News – Waitress in teashop Crook's Tour – Hotel Receptionist The Day Will Dawn – IngridThe First of the Few – Venetian Girl They Met in the Dark – Mary – ManicuristHotel Reserve – Odette RouxDon't Take It to Heart – MaryKiss the Bride Goodbye – Joan DoddWaltz Time – Cenci ProhaskaThe Secret Heart – Kay Burns; first American roleThe Beginning or the End – Mrs. Wyatt Moss Rose – Audrey AshtonThe Foxes of Harrow – DesireeThe Three Musketeers – KittyThe Fighting O'Flynn – Fancy FreeChildren of Chance – AgostinaFrancis – Maureen GelderFortunes of Captain Blood – Isabelita SotomayorAbbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion – Nicole DupreThe Jackpot – Hildegarde Jonet / Hilda JonesValentino – Lila ReyesThe Lady and the Bandit – Joyce GreeneThe Magic Carpet – LidaAladdin and His Lamp – Princess JasmineLady in the Iron Mask – Princess Anne / Princess LouiseCaptain Pirate – Dona IsabellaDesperate Search – Nora SteadBotany Bay – Sally MunroeSiren of Bagdad – Princess ZendiSangaree – Martha DarbyPlunder of the Sun – Anna LuzPhantom of the Rue Morgue – JeanetteDrums of Tahiti – Wanda SpenceThe Black Knight – LinetPirates of Tripoli – Princess KarjanMr. Arkadin – MilyDuel on the Mississippi – Lili ScarletThe Red Cloak – Laura LanfranchiUranium Boom – Jean WilliamsStranger at My Door – Peg JarretThe Beast of Hollow Mountain – SaritaMiami Exposé – Lila HodgesThe Buckskin Lady – Angela MedleyBattle of the V-1 – ZofiaCount Your Blessings – AlbertineSnow White and the Three Stooges – Queen / Witch / Gypsy MatildaThe Killing of Sister George – Betty ThaxterLatitude Zero – LucretiaKeene Timber Tramps – Miami LillsEl llanto de los pobres –

Selected television roles

Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers Zorro The Californians in episode "Lola Montez" – Lola Montez