Patricia Blair

Biography

Patsy Lou Blake was born in Fort Worth, Texas and grew up in Dallas. She became a teenage model through the Conover Agency. While acting in summer stock, Warner Bros. discovered her and she began acting in films under the names Patricia Blake and Pat Blake. In the late 1950s she appeared as the second female lead in several films for Warner Bros. and later for MGM. Her first movie was Jump Into Hell (1955), about the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in French Indochina.

She had a recurring role as Goldy, one of Madame Francine's hostesses, on the 1958 TV series Yancy Derringer. In 1962, she starred as Lou Mallory in The Rifleman, replacing actress Joan Taylor as Chuck Connors' love interest on The Rifleman. In 1963 she made a guest appearance on Perry Mason as murderess Nicolai Wright in "The Case of the Badgered Brother." She also made guest television appearances on The Bob Cummings Show, Rescue 8, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Virginian, and Bonanza.

She had considered moving to New York City in 1964 when screenwriter Gordon Chase helped her get a role in the series Daniel Boone. She played wife Rebecca Boone, opposite Fess Parker for six seasons, with Darby Hinton as son Israel and Veronica Cartwright as daughter Jemima. After the show ended in 1970, she appeared in a few minor films and television spots. Her last appearance on film was as the fashion narrator in the 1979 feature film The Electric Horseman. starring Robert Redford. In later years she produced trade shows in New York and New Jersey.

On February 14, 1965, the 30-year-old Blair married 42-year-old land developer Martin S. Colbert in Los Angeles, California. They were divorced in 1993.

Death

She died at her home in North Wildwood, New Jersey at age 80 from breast cancer.