Biography

Patricia Ellis called herself "the Queen of B pictures at Warner Brothers". With only three years of theatrical experience in New York under her belt, she started in films in 1932. Alongside other ladies considered to have potential (such as Ginger Rogers and Mary Carlisle), Patricia was selected as a WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) baby star. Within a few years she had worked her way up from juvenile supporting roles to second leads, averaging seven films a year. By 1937, she was given starring roles in comedies and the occasional mystery or crime picture, with such co-stars as James Cagney, Adolphe Menjou, and Joe E. Brown. Reviewers called her "comely and spontaneous" in the baseball farce Elmer, the Great (1933) and "personable" in Here Comes the Groom (1934) co-starring Jack Haley and referred to her "blonde winsomeness" in Boulder Dam (1936).

The problem was that the majority of her screen roles were purely ornamental and the films themselves were, without exception, second features. Towards the end of her run, Patricia appeared in the 1937 English comedy 'The Gaiety Girls' (with Jack Hulbert and a young Googie Withers) and, against type, played a femme fatale in Fugitive at Large (1939). At the end of the decade she called it a day, leaving Hollywood, first to appear in "Louisiana Purchase" on Broadway and then to marry George T. O'Malley, future president of Protection Securities Systems in Kansas City.
- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis

Patricia Ellis was left handed.

Retired in 1941 when she married George T. O'Malley, president of Protection Securities Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of Interstate Securities. The couple had one child, a daughter, Molly.

Movie industry trade paper articles in early 1934 reported that she was being considered for the role of Bo Peep in the Hal Roach / /MGM feature March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934). Charlotte Henry ultimately got the role.

WAMPAS Baby Star in 1932.

Born Patricia Gene O'Brien, elder daughter of Florence (nee Calkins) O'Brien and Eugene G. O'Brien. She was the stepdaughter of actor / theatrical producer Alexander Leftwich and was known as Patricia Leftwich for a period of time. She died of cancer in her early 50s and was survived by her daughter, her mother, her siblings (Eugene G. O'Brien Jr. and Marjory Jane O'Brien (aka Marty Morin)) and her nephew, D. David Morin.

There are a number of newspaper reports and articles from the surrounding area of Hollywood in 1932 about Patricia Ellis. They almost all comment on her young age of '17'. Apparently her real age was not disclosed when she signed with WB, but was discovered a few years later after her real sixteenth birthday. Detroit Free Press from May 1918 reported her birth in the 'Society' column, and is confirmed in other official sources.