Patricia Dane (Thelma Pearl Pippins)

Patricia Dane

Patricia Dane (August 4, 1919 – June 5, 1995) was an American film actress of the 1940s. Born Thelma Pearl Pippins and sometimes known as Thelma Byrnes after her stepfather in Jacksonville, Florida, Patricia Dane began her career designing clothes for a New York City dress firm. She was signed to an MGM contract in 1941 and is sometimes known as Pat Dane in films. Dane’s earliest appearances were two uncredited roles in Ziegfeld Girl and I’ll Wait For You (both 1941). She played the part of “Jennitt Hicks” in Life Begins For Andy Hardy and her well-received performance earned her a long-term contract. Dane played “Garnet” in Johnny Eager (1942) directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The film starred Robert Taylor and Lana Turner. Dane received favorable press for her acting in Grand Central Murder (1942), in which she was billed second to Van Heflin. Patricia Dane took a break from her film career when she married bandleader Tommy Dorsey; the marriage lasted from April 1943 to September 1947. Dane was every bit as forthright and exhibitionistic as Dorsey, and Dorsey loved to show her off to friends, according to Dorsey biographer Peter J. Levinson. Her MGM contract lapsed in 1945. Following her divorce from Dorsey, she resumed her movie career at the low-budget Monogram Pictures studio (Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad, 1948). Dane appeared in two television roles for Fireside Theater and Flight Thirteen, both 1951. Her final film appearances were uncredited parts in Road To Bali (1952) and The Harder They Fall (1956).  After her divorce Patricia Dane returned to the screen with Monogram Pictures, a studio less prestigious than MGM; she appeared in 1948’s “Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad”, was seen on the small screen in episodes of “Fireside Theater” and “The Lone Wolf”, and earned her final movie credits with the 1952 “Road to Bali” and 1956’s “The Harder They Fall”.  Moving to Blountsown, Florida, Patricia’s life quieted down considerably becoming, of all things, a librarian in town. She lived out her days in her hometown on Florida’s western panhandle and died completely out of the limelight of lung cancer. Some of her films have been preserved. Patricia Dane died in 1995 in Blountstown, Florida, aged 75.

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Born

  • August, 04, 1919
  • USA
  • Jacksonville, Florida

Died

  • June, 05, 1995
  • USA
  • Blountstown, Florida

Cause of Death

  • lung cancer

Cemetery

  • Pine Memorial Cemetery
  • Blountstown, Florida
  • USA

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