Born as Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick, she appeared in 62 movies between 1932 and 1948, usually as the leading lady's extremely formidable rival; good examples are her roles as the second wife in My Favorite Wife (1940) with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, as Anna May Wong's sophisticated competitor in Dangerous to Know (1938), or as Carole Lombard's spoiled sister in My Man Godfrey (1936). Her patrician bearing and luminous beauty also enabled her to play the lead in films like James Whale's Wives Under Suspicion (1938) and Robert Florey's Disbarred (1939).

Patrick retired from acting in films in 1948 and later, with her third husband Thomas Cornwell Jackson, became a producer of the Perry Mason television series (1957-1966).

She died from leukemia at age 69 in Los Angeles.

Partial filmography

• To the Last Man (1933) with Randolph Scott, Esther Ralston, Buster Crabbe, and Noah Beery, Sr.
• Wagon Wheels (1934) with Randolph Scott
• Rumba (1935) with George Raft and Carole Lombard
• Mississippi (1935) with Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, and Joan Bennett
• Two in the Dark (1936) with Alan Hale, Sr.
• My Man Godfrey (1936; directed by Gregory LaCava) with William Powell and Carole Lombard
• Stage Door (1937; directed by Gregory LaCava) with Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Lucille Ball
• King of Alcatraz (1938) with Lloyd Nolan, Harry Carey, and Robert Preston
• Mad About Music (1938) with Deanna Durbin and William Frawley
• Dangerous to Know (1938; directed by Robert Florey) with Anna May Wong
• Wives Under Suspicion (1938; directed by James Whale) with Warren William and Frank Morgan
• Disbarred (1939; directed by Robert Florey) with Robert Preston
• My Favorite Wife (1940; directed by Garson Kanin) with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant
• Love Crazy (1941) with William Powell and Myrna Loy
• Women in Bondage (1943) with Nancy Kelly

External links

• Gail Patrick at the Internet Movie Database
• Photographs of Gail Patrick