Elizabeth Patterson (November 22, 1875 – January 31, 1966) was an American film and television character actress remembered for her portrayal of elderly neighbor Mathilda Trumbull on I Love Lucy.
Patterson was born in Savannah, Tennessee, the daughter of a Confederate soldier who later served as a judge in Hardin County. Her interest in drama was enhanced by theatricals at colleges in Pulaski and Columbia. Her parents disapproved of a theatrical career and sent her to Europe to expose her to other interests, but after seeing the great French plays at the Comédie Française, Patterson returned to the States even more determined to be an actress.
Patterson used a small inheritance to move to Chicago, where she joined a theatrical troupe, and subsequently toured with repertory companies. In 1913, she made her Broadway debut in the play Everyman. She remained active in New York City theatre through 1954.
In 1926, at the age of 51, Patterson was cast in her first movie, The Boy Friend. Additional screen credits include A Bill of Divorcement, Dinner at Eight, High, Wide, and Handsome, Little Women, My Sister Eileen, and Pal Joey. Often cast as the maiden aunt or a scolding parent, Patterson livened up many a subpar film with her wonderful personality.
She considered Intruder in the Dust (1949) to be her favorite role. As Miss Haversham, she played a resolute woman who helped thwart a lynching.
In 1952, at the age of 77, Patterson was cast as Mrs. Willoughby, the wife of the Greenwich, Connecticut justice of the peace who marries Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, in an episode of I Love Lucy. The following year she was tapped for the recurring role of Mrs. Trumbull, the lovable neighbor and Little Ricky's babysitter. She remained with the series for three years.
Never married, Patterson lived alone at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel during her thirty-year motion picture career. She died in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia at the age of 90. She is buried in her hometown of Savannah.
A dainty but nevertheless feisty character actress, southern-bred Elizabeth Patterson started her career over her strict parent's objections and became a member of Chicago's Ben Greet Players, performing Shakespeare at the turn of the century. This followed college at Martin College where she studied music, elocution and English, and post-graduate work at Columbia Institute in Columbia, Tennessee. She eventually traveled in stock tours and moved to Broadway where she was seen throughtout the 20s. By the time she moved into films, she was 51 years of age. Known for her drab, careworn, dressed-down appearances, she played small-town relatives, avid gossips, steadfast country women, pernickety townfolk and other prickly pear types with great frequency, while adding greatly to the atmosphere of such films as A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Doctor Bull (1933), So Red the Rose (1935), Remember the Night (1940), Tobacco Road (1941), Hail the Conquering Hero (1941), and Out of the Blue (1948). It was in the 50s, however, that she became a familiar household face as Lucille Ball's fragile, elderly neighbor and part-time babysitter, Mrs. Trumball, on the "I Love Lucy" series. Elizabeth died in 1966 of pneumonia at age 91.
