Hollywood Film Career (1936-1948)
1936-1939
Gail Patrick was fresh off a handful of films, including Mississippi (1935) with Bing Crosby and Joan Bennett, and Doubting Thomas (1935) starring Will Rogers and Billie Burke, when director Gregory La Cava selected her to star in his next project, My Man Godfrey (1936). When La Cava approached her for the role of Cornelia Bullock, she was initially apprehensive about the character. Patrick said, "he told me I should suck on lemons and beat up little children to prepare as the nasty sister Cornelia." Patrick starred opposite Carole Lombard as her icy, calculated sister in the film. Lombard, who played Cornelia's sister Irene, was desperate for the outcast butler Godfrey's attention, played by William Powell, much to Cornelia's dismay. "At first, I felt so way out of my league because Carole and Bill Powell knew exactly what they were doing," Patrick later shared in an interview. The entire cast must have known what they were doing because My Man Godfrey was a huge success at the box office, and Patrick emerged as Hollywood's most wanted "other woman" for various studio films.
​​
Despite her studio contract with Paramount Pictures, Patrick was on loan to other studios for most of her films at the time. Not until her role in My Man Godfrey at Universal did she take acting as a serious career path. At first, she was only acting to save money for law school tuition, admitting in a 1936 interview, "I planned to go back and finish law school...I had aspirations to be the Governor of Alabama." Patrick placed these aspirations on hold as she continued to star as the haughty antagonist in mainly screwball comedies and dramas. Her next big feature film brought her back to work with director Gregory La Cava for RKO Radio Pictures' 1937 adaptation of Stage Door. The film was about a group of aspiring actresses who lived together in an all-girls theatrical hostel. The cast was full of talented dames, including Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Andrea Leeds, Eve Arden, and an early Lucille Ball. Once again, Patrick was the antagonist, Linda Shaw, to Ginger Rogers' character Jean Maitland. The two go back and forth for the entire film as they fight over stockings, furs, and the same nightclub entertainment manager, played by Adolphe Menjou. "I was never nastier," Patrick said about her role, "and La Cava told me to underplay, so I just purred and talked slow in my scenes to get attention." The film was a modest success as it did well with critics, but not so well with audiences. However, Stage Door is still appreciated today for its depiction of show business, rapid-fire sarcasm, and an almost all-female cast.
​​
Gail Patrick only made a couple more films exclusively with Paramount, such as Dangerous to Know (1938) and King of Alcatraz (1938), before her contract was due for renewal in 1939. Ultimately, she decided not to continue with the studio despite a salary increase. Patrick felt it was hard to break through at Paramount in the late 30s and had her eyes set on exploring other studios. "Colbert, Dietrich, and Hopkins were all in front of me...When I declined, I was warned I would never work again at Paramount, and I never did. But my type had become very popular, and I wanted to be in on the deals. I felt I'd gone as far as I could at Paramount."
Gail Patrick in a promotional shot
for My Man Godfrey (1936)
Carole Lombard, William Powell,,
and Gail Patrick in
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Gail Patrick and Ginger Rogers in Stage Door (1937)
1940-1948
.jpg)
Gail Patrick and Cary Grant in
My Favorite Wife (1940)
Irene Dunne and Gail Patrick in
My Favorite Wife (1940)
Gail Patrick's decision to leave Paramount left her options open for which films she wanted to star in next. Right out of the gate in 1940, she starred in two box office hits, The Doctor Takes a Wife and My Favorite Wife. The former was a screwball comedy that placed the main characters, played by Loretta Young and Ray Milland, in a fake marriage debacle. Patrick, of course, played the jealous real fiancée of Milland's character, who is back in town after a getaway. The Doctor Takes a Wife was a success for Columbia Pictures and gave Patrick the confidence after ending her relationship with Paramount.
Comfortable in her supporting roles as the jealous fiancée, Gail Patrick was cast in My Favorite Wife as Bianca Bates. Patrick was in good company alongside the iconic screwball duo of Cary Grant and Irene Dunne for the film. At the film's start, you see an eager Nick Arden (Grant) at the courthouse pleading with the judge to let him marry his new fiancée, Bianca (Patrick). It has been years since Nick's wife, Ellen (Dunne), was presumed dead in a shipwreck, but to the surprise of everyone involved, she reappears at the family's home - alive! A series of hijinks occurs throughout the screwball comedy, a must-see circus between the characters. My Favorite Wife was a big hit for RKO and became the second-highest-grossing film for the studio in 1940. It was also the 12th highest-grossing film in 1940 overall. Despite the success after the film's release, the mood on set was rather grim, according to Patrick. "We were desperately trying to be funny," Patrick said, "our producer, Leo McCarey, lay at death's door from an automobile crash. He recovered, but I never thought we entered into the spirit of that one. We couldn't - we were waiting for bulletins from the hospital."
After the success of these two screwball comedies, Patrick found herself in a cozy, comedic niche where she could star opposite some of the most well-known comedic players and also steal the viewer's attention with her sultry, glamorous on-screen personas. Five years after working with William Powell in My Man Godfrey, she was reunited with him in 1941 for another playful screwball called Love Crazy. Patrick enjoyed working with Powell; you can tell from their chemistry in the film. "He was a perfect technician about how to wait for a laugh and when to underplay," Patrick shared when reflecting on the film. In addition to Powell and Patrick, the cast consisted of Myrna Loy, a staple in any William Powell film, Jack Carson, and Florence Bates. "Love Crazy" is an appropriate title for this film since it largely revolves around Powell's character, Steve Ireland, getting mixed up in numerous antics to win his wife's love back on their anniversary after he encounters his ex, Isobel. If you predicted Gail Patrick played Isobel, you'd be correct, and her sudden arrival places Steve Ireland in a comedically frantic state. The cast does everything for a laugh in this film, making it a delightful viewing experience. It may not be as well-known as other Loy-Powell collaborations, but it was a hit for MGM and audiences in 1941.
​
​Following Patrick's success in the early 1940s, she starred in several other enjoyable films, such as Kathleen (1941) with Shirley Temple, Herbert Marshall, and Laraine Day. She plays the haughty new girlfriend of Kathleen's (Temple) father and attempts to win over Kathleen and prove she deserves her father's love. We Were Dancing (1942) is another romantic comedy where Patrick plays an ex-girlfriend to Melvyn Douglas' character, Nicki. The film also stars Norma Shearer as Vicki, a down-and-out Polish Princess who agrees to marry Nicki despite his lack of fortune. The film was Shearer's next-to-last before retiring, and Patrick told an interviewer years later about the experience. "She [Shearer] was treated like an Empress. I was always quaking in my boots when she passed by with her retinue. Sometimes she'd nod, and it was only years later when we both retired and we met again that we actually spoke. However, she had little recollection of me."
​
In between some of her more well-regarded films, Gail Patrick had sadly found herself in a B-movie slump for the remainder of her film career. She noticed that most roles would place her as the "motherly figure" despite being in her early to mid-30s. "I can recall it started with Deanna Durbin, who was amazed I was playing her mother, although I was only eight years older," Patrick joked when asked about her later roles. However, one film in 1944 perfectly highlighted her comedic timing and personality—a film adaptation of a 1919 Broadway play titled Up in Mabel's Room. The screwball comedy shows the playful relationship between Boris (Dennis O'Keefe) and Mabel Essington (Gail Patrick), who were once an item. On a drunken whim on a former trip, Boris gifted Mabel an embroidered negligee with his initials. Since he now has a new woman in his life, played by Marjorie Reynolds, he is on a mission to retrieve this item and leave no trace of their relationship. The film has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that make the entire cast shine. Gail Patrick plays Mabel with such charm and cheekiness that it makes you wish she were cast as a screwball leading lady since the start of her career. It is an excellent showcase of her talents and one of the hidden gems in her filmography.
Promotional lobby card for Love Crazy
(1941)
Norma Shearer, Gail Patrick, and
Melvyn Douglas in We Were
Dancing (1942)
Marjorie Reynolds,
Gail Patrick, and Dennis O'Keefe in
Up in Mabel's Room (1944)
Gail Patrick and Thomas Cornwell Jackson (1947)
Gail Patrick in a promotional photo
for The Inside Story (1948)
As Gail Patrick's acting career approached the mid-1940s, her film appearances dwindled. She appeared on average in 1-3 films a year during this time compared to 5-6 a few years prior. Patrick revealed that the demand for her on-screen persona began to diminish and that she also faced personal hardships during this time. "I was starting to be overlooked and making too many B-films," she shared, "I had lost twin babies in a premature birth, and acting suddenly seemed so silly." During this tragedy in 1945, Patrick was on her second marriage to U.S. Navy Naval Air Lieutenant Arnold White, whom she met on a war bond tour. The loss of their children placed an incredible strain on the couple, and sadly, they filed for divorce a year later in 1946. Another unfortunate health event occurred soon after her third marriage in 1947 to Thomas Cornwell Jackson, an advertising executive. At age 36, Patrick was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a chronic illness that would require her to take insulin for the remainder of her life. Patrick struggled with this news, later sharing, "I raged at first, but you adjust. I found out as much as I could about it and tried to pace myself." Acting became a second thought for Patrick due to recent events, and she decided it was best to retire. Her last feature film, The Inside Story (1948), starring Marsha Hunt, William Lundigan, and Charles Winninger, was a fairly enjoyable comedy. The film revolves around a small town and a stack of cash circulating throughout it as the original owner frantically tries to locate it. In this film, Gail Patrick takes her final bow, and plays the well-to-do socialite for one last time.
​
For many Hollywood stars during this era, if they retired from acting, it was the last anyone would hear or see of them for years, possibly forever. However, this was not a permanent retirement for Gail Patrick. Instead, her decision to leave acting was only the start of a remarkable second chapter.