Life and career

McCormack was born Patricia Ellen Russo in Brooklyn, New York, to Elizabeth (née McCormack), a professional roller skater, and Frank Russo, a fireman. She attended New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn She is an aunt of fellow actor and New York City lawmaker Alfred Cerullo.

She was a child model at the age of four and began appearing on television at the age of seven. She made her motion picture debut in Two Gals and a Guy (1951) and appeared in the television series Mama with Peggy Wood from 1953-56. Her Broadway debut was in Touchstone (1953), and the following year, she originated the role of Rhoda Penmark, an eight-year-old sociopath and fledgling serial killer, in the original stage version of Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed (1954) with Nancy Kelly. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film version (1956). She originated the role of Helen Keller in the original 1957 Playhouse 90 production of William Gibson's The Miracle Worker opposite Teresa Wright.

In 1957, she was cast by Orson Welles in his film of Don Quixote, but filming had to be abandoned for budgetary reasons, and was never fully completed. When a version was edited together in 1992, some years after Welles's death, it did not include any of McCormack's scenes, though they had been central to the framing of the plot. She had the role of a pampered child star in the 1958 comedy Kathy O' and recorded the title song for Dot Records. McCormack briefly starred in her own series, Peck's Bad Girl with Marsha Hunt and Wendell Corey in 1959, and had a leading role in MGM's remake of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Eddie Hodges. In the early 1960s, she starred in a series of popular teenage delinquent films, including The Explosive Generation with William Shatner and The Young Runaways. In 1962, she portrayed Julie Cannon in the episode "Incident of the Wolvers" on CBS's Rawhide, and in 1963, she portrayed Sarah Higgins in the episode "Incident at Paradise".

She married restaurateur Bob Catania in 1967, and they had two children before their marriage was dissolved. After a half-dozen teen roles during the 1960s, her film career declined, but she continued to work in television. In 1970, she played Linda Warren on the soap opera The Best of Everything. She guest-starred on The Streets of San Francisco, season 2, episode "Blockade". She also portrayed a San Francisco paramedic on the season-7 Emergency! films What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing...? and The Convention. She resumed her cinema career with Bug in 1975.

She had recurring roles in popular television series, including The Ropers, Dallas, Murder, She Wrote, and The Sopranos. When Kathryn Hays left the CBS soap opera As the World Turns for an extended period, McCormack took Hays' role until she returned. She starred as a psychotic mother in the cult thriller Mommy and its 1997 sequel Mommy 2: Mommy's Day. In 2008, McCormack played First Lady Pat Nixon in the feature film Frost/Nixon. McCormack continues to work regularly and she co-starred in the 2012 series Have You Met Miss Jones?. Her most recent film appearance is in the 2014 release Chicanery and she guest-starred in a 2013 episode of the series Hart of Dixie.

Awards

In addition to her Oscar nomination, McCormack received a Golden Globe nomination for The Bad Seed. In 1956, she received the Milky Way "Gold Star Award" as the most outstanding juvenile performer.

Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6312 Hollywood Boulevard.

McCormack was a guest for the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, where her films were screened, and she received an award during the closing ceremonies.

Selected filmography

• Two Gals and a Guy (1951)
• Here Comes the Groom (1951) (uncredited)
• The Bad Seed (1956)
• The Snow Queen (1957) (voice in 1959 English version)
• All Mine to Give (1957)
• Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (episode: "Make Me Not a Witch")
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)
• Route 66 (season 1, episode 1: "Black November"; 1960)
• The Explosive Generation (1961)
• Rawhide (season 5, episode 3: "Incident of the Wolvers"; 1962)
• Jacktown (1962)
• The New Breed (1962)
• Maryjane (1968)
• The Mini-Skirt Mob (1968)
• The Young Runaways (1968)
• Bug (1975)
• Invitation to Hell (1984)
• Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988)
• The Flamingo Kid (1984)
• Mommy (1995)
• Mommy's Day (1997) (aka Mommy 2: Mommy's Day)
• Acceptable Risk (2001)
• The Kiss (2003)
• Target (2004)
• Shallow Ground (2004)
• Cold Case (2004)
• Gone, But Not Forgotten (2004)
• Heart of the Beholder (2005)
• Criminal Minds (2005) - Marcia Gordon
• Frost/Nixon (2008)
• Private Practice (2009)
• Desperate Housewives (2010)
• Supernatural (2012)
• The Master (2012)
• Scandal (2012)
• Hart of Dixie (2013)

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1956	Suspense	The Doll

Further reading

• Rigdon, Walter (ed.) The Biographical Encyclopedia of Who's Who of the American Theatre. New York: James H. Heineman, Inc. c1966.
• "Patty McCormack." Biography Resource Center. Thomson Gale. February 15, 2005.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]