
Patricia Roc
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patricia Roc (born Felicia Miriam Ursula Herold; 7 June 1915 – 30 December 2003) was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) and The Wicked Lady (1945), though she only made one film in Hollywood, Canyon Passage (1946). She also appeared in Millions Like Us (1943), Jassy (1945), The Brothers (1947) and When the Bough Breaks (1947).
She was employed by the studio of J. Arthur Rank, who called her "the archetypal British beauty" She achieved her greatest level of popularity in British films during the Second World War in escapist melodramas for Gainsborough Studios.
Roc began as a stage actress, debuting in the 1938 London production of Nuts in May, in which she was seen by Alexander Korda who gave her an uncredited bit in The Divorce of Lady X (1938) and her in a leading role as a Polish princess in The Rebel Son.
She had roles in The Gaunt Stranger (1939), The Mind of Mr. Reeder (1939), and The Missing People (1940). She had a bigger part in A Window in London (1940), the comedy Pack Up Your Troubles (1940), Dr. O'Dowd (1940), Three Silent Men (1940), It Happened to One Man (1940), and The Farmer's Wife (1941).
Her parts grew bigger: My Wife's Family (1941), Suspected Person (1942), Let the People Sing (1942), and We'll Meet Again (1943) with Vera Lynn.
Roc was top billed in Millions Like Us (1943) from Gainsborough Studios. It was a success and Gainsborough gave her another lead, as a nun interned by the Germans in Two Thousand Women (1944).
She appeared alongside two of Gainsborough's biggest stars, Margaret Lockwood and Stewart Granger in Love Story (1944), a big hit. Roc played the jealous rival of Margaret Lockwood. She later commented that although they were required to slap each other's faces, she and Lockwood were always the best of friends. Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945), with Granger and Phyllis Calvert, was another success.
Neither of them, however, did as well as The Wicked Lady (1945), where Roc played Lockwood's best friend. It was the most successful movie at the British box office in 1946. Roc's more overt sexuality in such films as The Wicked Lady was downplayed for the American market; her décolletage led US censors to call for retakes to de-emphasise it) and "the Goddess of Odeons", whilst Noël Coward said she was "a phenomenon" and "an unspoiled film star who can act".
She was also in Johnny Frenchman (1945). Co starring in that film was Ralph Michael who soon after divorced his wife Fay Compton; Roc was named in proceedings.
Her brief move to Hollywood to film Canyon Passage (1946) was a lend lease agreement between Rank Pictures and Universal Studios of British in return for American film actors. During filming, Roc was romantically linked with Ronald Reagan, while her US co-star Susan Hayward stated "that Limey glamour girl is a helluva dame."
Roc returned to Britain to make The Brothers (1947), a melodrama that was a commercial disappointment. She was in an expensive British-US co production So Well Remembered (1947) which was a hit in Britain but failed to recoup its cost. Jassy(1947), a melodrama with Lockwood, was a big hit. When the Bough Breaks (1947), another melodrama, performed reasonably well.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.016 |
Birthday | 1915-06-07 |
Place of Birth | Hampstead, London, England, UK |
Also Known As | Felicia Miriam Ursula Herold, |

1943

We'll Meet Again
6/3
A young dancer trying to make it in London during World War II discovers that people like her singing voice, too. Although she's at first reluctant to...
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We'll Meet Again

1944

Two Thousand Women
6.9/10
During the Second World War, three downed English airmen hide out with women's internment camp in France.
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Two Thousand Women

1945

The Wicked Lady
6.3/30
A married woman finds new thrills as a masked robber on the highways.
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The Wicked Lady

1946

Canyon Passage
6.6/60
In 1850s Oregon, a businessman is torn between his love of two very different women and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the l...
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Canyon Passage

1949

Return to Life
6.2/13
In France in 1946, the difficult return to civilian life of five deportees and prisoners of war after having lived through the hell of the Second Worl...
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Return to Life

1949

The Man on the Eiffel Tower
5.3/20
A down-and-out student is hired to kill a wealthy woman. When someone else is suspected of the crime, the student taunts police until they realize tha...
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The Man on the Eiffel Tower

1947

The Brothers
5.2/8
An orphan wreaks havoc on a remote Scottish island when she causes an age-old feud to be reignited.
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The Brothers

1951

Circle of Danger
6.5/18
An American comes to Britain to investigate the murky circumstances of his brother's death that occurred during a WW2 commando raid.
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Circle of Danger

1945

Johnny Frenchman
6/4
The fisherman from a Cornish village have a friendly rivalry with the fishermen (and one formidable woman) from a French port. Then war comes and they...
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Johnny Frenchman

1945

Madonna of the Seven Moons
6.3/14
In the early part of this century, Maddelena a teenage Italian girl, is attacked whilst walking in the woods. The attack leaves her mentally scarred a...
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Madonna of the Seven Moons

1943

Millions Like Us
5.4/13
When Celia Crowson is called up for war service, she hopes for a glamorous job in one of the services, but as a single girl, she is directed into a fa...
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Millions Like Us

1940

Bits of Our Aircraft are Missing
6/1
British Air Ministry short film highlighting the need for the public to stay clear of aircraft wreckage during World War II.
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Bits of Our Aircraft are Missing

1938

The Gaunt Stranger
6.2/2
A lawyer receives a note telling him that he'll be dead in 48 hours - and Scotland Yard must work fast to uncover the serial killer known as 'The Ring...
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The Gaunt Stranger

1949

The Perfect Woman
6/6
In need of cash, Roger Cavendish and his valet take a job escorting the perfect woman for a night on the town. She is in fact the robotic creation of...
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The Perfect Woman

1955

Cartouche
5/3
The son of an ailing nobleman returns to France to clear his name and prove where the true guilt lies.
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Cartouche

1960

Bluebeard's 10 Honeymoons
6.1/9
A murderer enriches his finances by marrying and then killing off a series of wealthy women.
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Bluebeard's 10 Honeymoons

1947

When The Bough Breaks
6.333/3
The bewildered wife of a bigamist allows her child to be adopted and then regrets it.
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When The Bough Breaks

1940

A Window in London
5.9/6
A man witnesses a murder that isn't a murder, only to get involved with the magician and his wife who created the illusion. The insanely jealous magic...
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A Window in London

1942

Let the People Sing
6.2/6
An out-of-work comedian persuades a drunken nobleman to join a protest against the closing of a village hall.
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Let the People Sing

1938

The Rebel Son
0/0
During the 16th century the Cossacks and their Ukraine homeland is ruled by Poland. This is the story of the leader of the Cossacks and how his son wa...
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The Rebel Son

1947

So Well Remembered
5.2/13
A mill-owner's ambitious daughter almost ruins her husband's political career.
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So Well Remembered

1947

Jassy
5.4/10
In 19th century England, Jassy is a young Gypsy girl blessed with the gift of second sight. Pursued by superstitious villagers, she is rescued by the...
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Jassy

1948

One Night with You
6.5/1
Two strangers meet when they both miss their trains, and end up spending a penniless day and night together. An English version of 'It Happened One Ni...
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One Night with You

1944

Love Story
6.4/6
After discovering that she has only a short time left to live, concert pianist Lissa travels to Cornwall for the final fling of her life. While there,...
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Love Story

1957

The House in the Woods
6/1
A novelist and his wife go to stay at a cottage owned by a painter whose wife has just died.
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The House in the Woods

1940

Three Silent Men
5.2/2
An inventor of a deadly weapon to be used against the allies is injured in a crash. Surgeon, Sir James (Sebastian Shaw) saves his life but learns of t...
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Three Silent Men

1957

The Hypnotist
5.3/3
Culver is a psychiatrist who uses hypnotism to treat his patients. When Carpenter, a test pilot, comes to see him complaining of blackouts that make h...
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The Hypnotist

1950

Black Jack
5.8/4
A man who lost everything in the war now smuggles contraband into and out of Spain, but the law's closing in.
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Black Jack

1939

The Missing People
0/0
27 well-to-do people have all vanished under similar circumstances. J.G. Reeder, an elderly gentleman who fancies himself a detective, decides to inve...
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The Missing People

1952

Torticola versus Frankensberg
4/2
A comedic take on the Frankenstein story.
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Torticola versus Frankensberg

1942

Suspected Person
5.5/2
After a $50,000 heist in New York, two of the suspected robbers walk free from the courtroom and they waste no time in heading to London in search of...
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Suspected Person

1941

The Farmer's Wife
6/1
Eden Philpotts' "provincial" comic novel and play The Farmer's Wife was first filmed in the silent era by Alfred Hitchcock. The 1940 talkie version wa...
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The Farmer's Wife

1940

It Happened to One Man
0/0
A film directed by Paul L. Stein.
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It Happened to One Man

1938

The Divorce of Lady X
6/16
The morning after a London barrister lets a mystery woman stay in his suite, a friend files for divorce.
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The Divorce of Lady X

1940

Dr. O'Dowd
0/0
Marius O'Dowd is an Irish doctor who is often drunk. His daughter-in-law Moira dies during a serious operation which O'Dowd is performing. Although O'...
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Dr. O'Dowd

1955

The Widow
0/0
A woman falls in love with a race-car driver who two-times her for another girl.
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The Widow

1947

Holiday Camp
6.1/9
The Huggett family go to a holiday camp, and get involved in crooked card players, a murderer on the run, and a pregnant young girl and her boyfriend...
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Holiday Camp

1952

Something Money Can't Buy
6/1
A British Army Officer returning to civilian life after WWII, starts a catering company with some of his ex-army pals.
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Something Money Can't Buy

1950

Fugitive from Montreal
6/1
Pierre Chambrac, a French industrialist, and Canadian Paul Laforêt, two former brothers in arms, meet again by chance in Paris five years after the en...
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Fugitive from Montreal

1941

My Wife's Family
0/0
A farce concerning the attempts of a naval officer to avoid a visit from his wife's overbearing mother-in-law, and cope with a former girlfriend at th...
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My Wife's Family

1939

The Mind of Mr. Reeder
0/0
Mr. Reeder, a somewhat eccentric old gentleman employed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, gets it into his head to break up a counterfeiting rin...
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