Patricia Harper (born Frances Persotia Harper, February 21, 1908 – April 15, 1979) was an American screenwriter and actress who wrote B-Westerns in the 1930s and 1940s.[2]
Patricia Harper | |
|---|---|
| Born | Frances Persotia Harper February 21, 1908 Warren, Indiana, USA |
| Died | April 15, 1979 (aged 71)[1] |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Spouses | Gordon Eskridge (divorced)
|
Biography
editOrigins
editA native of Indiana, Harper was born to Thaddeus S. Harper and Eunice Bennett in 1908. She was raised primarily in Oklahoma City, where she met and married Gordon Eskridge in 1927. The pair had a son and divorced less than two years later.
Hollywood career
editPatricia's parents raised her son[3] while she attended art school and moved further west to seek work as a writer and actress.[4][5] Soon after arriving in Hollywood, she appeared in a string of smaller roles, but more importantly, she forged a promising career for herself as a screenwriter.[6] She'd pen more than a dozen Westerns between 1938 and 1947. She later said she decided to go by Patricia because no one believed Persotia was a real name.[7]
Relationships
editShe was rumored to be engaged to Jesse Lasky Jr. in the early 1930s, but Lasky later said they had just been friends.[8][9] She married advertising executive George Johnson Ross in 1947.[10]
Selected filmography
edit- Ghost Town Renegades (1947)
- Border Feud (1947)
- Range Beyond the Blue (1947)
- The Scarlet Horseman (1946)
- Code of the Lawless (1945)
- Secret Agent X-9 (1945)
- The Topeka Terror (1945)
- My Gal Loves Music (1944)
- Trail to Gunsight (1944)
- Trigger Trail (1944)
- The Drifter (1944)
- Blazing Frontier (1943)
- Black Market Rustlers (1943)
- Western Cyclone (1943)
- Death Rides the Plains (1943)
- Riders of San Joaquin (1943)
- Prairie Pals (1942)
- Western Jamboree (1938)
References
edit- ^ California, U.S., Death Index, 1940–1997
- ^ "14 Feb 1935, Page 4 - Corsicana Daily Sun at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "17 Feb 1935, Page 29 - The Decatur Herald at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "27 Jan 1933, Page 1 - The Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "17 Feb 1935, Page 29 - The Decatur Herald at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "30 Nov 1941, 32 - The Daily Oklahoman at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "13 Jun 1934, 21 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "30 Oct 1932, 44 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "31 Jan 1933, Page 1 - Oakland Tribune at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "13 Nov 1947, 16 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25.