Patricia Ryan (February 25, 1921 – February 15, 1949) was a child and later young adult performer and an actress in

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

. She was taken ill during an evening broadcast and died the next day.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 235.

Early years

Ryan's father John Ryan was a

doughboy "Doughboy" was a popular nickname for the American infantryman during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s, when it was gradually replaced by " G.I." as the following ge ...

in World War I. During his time in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

he met Edith Lottie wood, and they married in 1916. Their daughter, Patricia, was born about six weeks before they boarded a ship to emigrate to the United States. She worked in vaudeville when she was 7 years old. She also sang in the choir and played on the basketball team of St. Michael's Church. Ryan had two sisters Pauline and Juanita, born in 1918 and 1926 respectively.https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10134-220366425/pauline-ryan-in-1930-united-states-federal-census#fullscreen

Radio

Ryan began working in radio when she was 4 years old. (Another source says that she "started at the age of 8.") Her best-known role was probably that of Kathleen, Henry Aldrich's girlfriend on ''

The Aldrich Family ''The Aldrich Family'', a popular radio teenage situation comedy (July 2, 1939 – April 19, 1953), was also presented in films, television and comic books. In the radio series' opening exchange, awkward teen Henry's mother called, "Hen-''ry-y-y ...

''. During the 1934-1935 radio season, Ryan "wrote, directed and acted in a radio play presented over CBS." Ryan's roles in other programs are shown in the table below. As a child, she was also a member of the casts of ''Our Barn'' ''

Let's Pretend ''Let's Pretend'', created and directed by Nila Mack, was a CBS radio series for children. Prior to being renamed ''Let's Pretend'', the program had a variety of titles and formats. In its most famous form, ''Let's Pretend'', the Peabody Awar ...

''.

Public service

During World War II, Ryan worked two years as a nurse's aide after receiving her diploma from Misericordia Hospital in Manhattan, New York. She also was a hostess at the Stage Door Canteen. On a typical day, she worked at a hospital from 7:15 a.m. until noon, spent the afternoon on radio and visited with soldiers at the canteen in the evenings.

Film

Ryan had a screen test with

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

in 1942.

Personal life

Ryan married George Robert Gibson, seaman in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, on August 5, 1945 in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

.https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-20807-1172316-S/george-robert-gibson-and-patricia-marion-ryan-in-new-york-new-york-city-marriages#fullscreen

Death

On February 14, 1949, Ryan was performing on a ''

Cavalcade of America ''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular Composer, composers. It was ...

'' broadcast when, as reported in a United Press wire service story, she was "stricken with a splitting headache." The UP story related: "The show had been on only a few minutes when she yanclutched her head and swayed. She was helped to a chair and two other actresses alternately read her lines. Before the program ended she had recovered enough to resume her part, but still complained of an extremely severe headache." The next morning, her husband found her dead in their apartment. Her death was attributed to a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

. Coincidentally, in the episode, "Valentine for Sophie," Ryan's character was a woman who suffered from severe headaches. In another ironic twist, Ryan had suffered an on-set injury 15 years earlier. As she was preparing for a radio program, an overhead microphone fell on her head, knocking her out. She was revived two minutes before air time and carried through, acting her part in the program despite having what she called "a slight headache." Services for Ryan were held at Walter Cooke's Chapel in New York City on February 18, 1949.

References

{{authority control 1921 births 1949 deaths American radio actresses 20th-century American actresses