Lee Patrick

Patrick died suddenly from a heart seizure on the day before her 81st birthday, at Laguna Beach, California. In 1994, the government of France placed her image on a postage stamp. Starring George Segal as Sam Spade Jr., forced to continue his father's work, and to keep his increasingly sarcastic secretary, the film attempted to turn its revered predecessor into a comedy, and was a box office failure. Yvonne Printemps died in the Paris suburb of Neuilly on January 19, 1977. Her final film role was a reprise of her Effie Perine character in a reworking of the Sam Spade story titled The Black Bird (1975). She continued to perform on stage until she was well into her sixties and remained active with Pierre Fresnay, co-directing the Théâtre de la Michodière in Paris with him until his death in 1975. Among her other films are Now, Voyager (1942), Mrs Parkington (1944), Mildred Pierce (1945), Caged (1950), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Vertigo (1958), Auntie Mame (1958), Pillow Talk (1959), and Summer and Smoke (1961). Personifying the grand diva, she made a great spectacle wherever she went with her pet poodles on a leash.

As Effie Perine, the loyal and quick-thinking secretary of Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade, Patrick created one of her most enduring film characterisations. Loving the spotlight, she would be seen draped with jewels and wearing enormous hats. Over the next several years she played numerous supporting roles, without attracting much attention until she appeared in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Following her divorce from Sacha Guitry, she fell in love with French film star Pierre Fresnay with whom she remained for life. She remained in Hollywood, and appeared in Border Cafe (1937). She appeared in nine motion pictures, including the starring role in both the stage and screen versions of "Le Trois Valses.". Her disappointments continued when she was considered and then rejected for the lead role in Stella Dallas in favour of Barbara Stanwyck. In 1934 she received international acclaim for her performance in the Noel Coward play, "Conversation Piece." She performed in Paris and at London's West End before going to the United States to star on Broadway.

Patrick had made her film debut in 1929 but since that time had not appeared in a single film, and RKO Studios were reluctant to allow an unknown actress to take a part in a film which they were beginning to realise had great potential. Together they performed in a number of his plays bringing the extremely popular 1925 production of "Mozart" to cities in North America, including New York City, Montreal, Quebec and Boston, Massachusetts. Eventually the part was rewritten and split from a single character into two characters which were played by Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. In 1919, she married actor-playwright Sacha Guitry. Her success in Stage Door (1937) led her to Hollywood to reprise her role in the film version. Her voice and stage presence made her a great star at a young age, appearing as a teenager with the greatest stars of the day, Maurice Chevalier and Mistinguett. For more than a decade she was constantly employed and established herself as a popular actress. Nicknamed Printemps (springtime) by her fellow chorus members because of her sunny disposition, she started in operetta, appearing in such works as "Les Contes de Perrault" (1913) and "Le Poilu" (1916).

Born in New York, New York, Patrick began acting on Broadway in 1924. Born Yvonne Wignolle, she was dancing in revues at the Folies Bergère in Paris at age 13. Lee Patrick (November 22, 1901 – November 21, 1982) was an American theater and film actress. Yvonne Printemps, born July 25, 1895 in Ermont, Île-de-France, France - died January 19, 1977 in Paris, France, was a singer and actress. Her difficulties in establishing a career as a leading actress were often attributed to a long standing fued Patrick had with gossip columnist Louella Parsons, about whom Patrick's husband, a journalist, had written very unfavourably. Shaving a decade off her age was a decision she made early in her career, and at the time of her death, many of her friends believed that she was in her early seventies.

After her death it was discovered that she was ten years older than she had ever revealed.