Patricia Laffan

Early life

Patricia Laffan was the daughter of Arthur Charles Laffan (d 1948), a prosperous Irish rubber planter in Malaya, and London-born Elvira Alice Vitali (1896-1979). [External link: IMDb] Her parents returned to the British Isles a short time before the birth of their daughter. On seeing the film The Broadway Melody (MGM 1929) at the age of ten Patricia decided she wanted to act. She was educated at schools in Folkestone, Kent, and at the Institut Français in London. At the Webber-Douglas Dramatic School she studied acting. She also studied dancing at the De Vos Ballet School.

A statuesque beauty, she was five-feet-six-inches tall, with dark reddish-brown hair and green eyes, and had an attractive distinctive catch in her aristocratic English speaking-voice. She looked like a high class fashion model (with the bonus of excellent acting abilities), she dressed with exquisite good taste, and she would in fact become active in the fashion industry after her retirement from acting.

Career

Laffan's first film appearance was in One Good Turn (1936). She joined the Oxford Playhouse Repertory Company, and her first stage appearance was as Jenny Diver in The Beggar's Opera Jan. 1937 at the Oxford Playhouse. Her first London appearance was as the Young Girl in Surprise Item 25 Feb. 1938 at the Ambassadors Theatre. She toured military bases throughout England during World War II, appearing in Hay Fever and Twelfth Night. Her first credited film part was a minor role as Betty in Caravan (1946). The following year she was featured in the mystery film Death in High Heels (1947) with Don Stannard.

In 1950 she appeared in the crime drama Hangman's Wharf as Rosa Warren. In the 1951 film Quo Vadis she played Poppaea, the second wife of the Roman Emperor Nero. The producer and director of the epic blockbuster selected her for this major role after they'd seen a screen-test she had made for a smaller part in the film. In Escape Route (1952), a crime thriller, she played Irma Brooks. She starred as the ruthless, PVC-clad alien Nyah in the Devil Girl from Mars (1954). Next year she had a supporting part as Miss Alice MacDonald in the mystery thriller 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956). By the 1960s she mainly appeared on radio and television, including performances in Anna Karenina, The Aspern Papers, and Rembrandt, and appearances on panel game programmes such as Petticoat Line and Call My Bluff. In the late 1960s and 1970s she produced and choreographed fashion shows around the world.

The 10 July 1954 issue of Picture Show & Film Pictorial featured “The Life Story of Patricia Laffan” which included these facts:

“She lists fast cars and breeding bull terriers as her hobbies. She is quick-witted and says that had she not become an actress she would probably have been a writer. As a matter of fact, she has had a number of short stories published, and during the time she spent in Paris she wrote scripts for the Paris radio. She speaks French fluently.”

Laffan had a piece appearing in “Winter Pie --Miscellany for Men & Women,” ( A Pie Pocket Special) published in October 1947. It was entitled “Penicillin and Paris” and was a breezy account of her “first weekend in Paris,” under doctor’s orders to take vitamins and a holiday. She was “wined and dined on the right bank and on the left” and broadcast (and sang “Night and Day” with a large band) over Radio-Diffusion Francais. There is a reference to the fact that she was appearing in “The Rake’s Progress,” then showing in Paris.

The Pittston Gazette on 20 January 1955 had an item discussing Laffan’s first visit to the United States for a combination of work and vacation. She was scouting out panel and quiz shows (she appeared in several in England) to compare notes on American methods. She noted that “The air’s so good here.” On 25 January 1956, the Daily Reporter ran an item from Louella Parsons: “Hollywood is talking about the uncanny resemblance of British actress Patricia Laffan to Gertrude Lawrence, and the interest in Patricia to play the Lawrence biography…”

Later life

Laffan was interviewed on 21 March 1998 in London by Lisa Cohen, for her book “All We Know,” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2012) an account of the lives of three women: New York intellectual Esther Murphy, writer-feminist Mercedes De Acosta, and British Vogue fashion editor Madge Garland. Laffan has a tangential connection to Garland: Garland was romantically involved with divorce lawyer Frances (Fay) Blacket Gill, one of the first women solicitors in England. Laffan is referenced as Gill’s “last girlfriend,” and briefly discusses Gill and her relationship with Garland.

In 2008 Laffan was interviewed for the British documentary British B Movies: Truly, Madly, Cheaply.

Laffan died at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in Chelsea, London on 10 March 2014 at the age of 94. The cause of death was given as multiple organ failure due to an acute kidney problem.

Theatre