Patrice Wymore could hold her own in a Western and turn around and deliver a song-and-dance number in a Doris Day musical. The Kansas-born actress, singer, and dancer brought that versatility to Hollywood in the 1950s, appearing opposite Errol Flynn in Rocky Mountain and later joining the cast of the original Ocean’s Eleven. She died at her home in Jamaica on March 22, 2014, at the age of 87.
From Broadway to Hollywood
Wymore made her Broadway debut in the 1948 musical Hold It! before signing with Warner Bros. She made her film debut as Beatrice Darcy in Tea for Two (1950), starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. She worked with Day again in I’ll See You in My Dreams (1951), where she put her stage experience to use in a lively song-and-dance number.
A Place in Classic Westerns
In Rocky Mountain (1950), Wymore played Johanna Carter, a stagecoach passenger caught in the dangers of the Civil War frontier. She met Errol Flynn while making the film, and they married that year. Her Western credits also included The Man Behind the Gun (1953), in which she played Lora Roberts opposite Randolph Scott.
Wymore took on a different kind of role in Ocean’s Eleven (1960). As Adele Ekstrom, she shared the screen with Frank Sinatra in the original Las Vegas heist film.
A Life Beyond the Screen
After her Hollywood years, Wymore made Jamaica her permanent home. She built a wicker furniture business and raised cattle, taking her life in a direction few moviegoers would have expected when they first saw her on screen.
For anyone revisiting her films, Tea for Two and Rocky Mountain make a rewarding double feature. Released the same year, they show two sides of a performer who could move from the rhythm of a musical to the tension of a Western without losing her own distinct presence.