Patricia Molly Owens (January 17, 1925 – August 31, 2000) was a Canadian-British actress.

Early life Owens was born in Golden, British Columbia in 1925. Her family moved to England when she was eight-years-old, where Owens was raised.

Her father was Arthur Owens, a notorious German-and-British double agent during the Second World War who operated under the codename "Snow". The elder Owens, who ran a company building ship batteries, had been recruited by the Abwehr in 1938. Upon the outbreak of World War II, he offered his services to Special Branch, but was initially imprisoned for espionage, before being recruited by MI5 to act as a double agent.

As an adult, Patricia would downplay her relation to her father, who moved to Dublin with a new wife in 1948, where he would remain until his death in 1957.

Career Owens moved from Canada to England as a child. At 18, she made her motion-picture debut in the musical comedy Miss London Ltd. The following year, she had a small role in Harold French's social satire English Without Tears. Her career continued in this manner for a few years, Owens getting ever-larger roles in movies.

Her career received a boost when she was seen by a 20th Century Fox executive while performing in a stage production of Sabrina Fair, and was offered a screen test. The result was a contract with the studio and a move to Hollywood. Her first American film was Island in the Sun (1957), followed by No Down Payment, both for Fox, after which Owens was lent to Warner Bros. to star (second-billed below Marlon Brando) in the critically-acclaimed romantic drama Sayonara (1957).

Owens spent the rest of 1957 working mostly on loan, but a successful Fox production secured her best known role, as Hélène Delambre, the wife of scientist André Delambre in The Fly (1958). Owens carried much of that horror film's narrative, which was largely presented in flashback from her character's point of view.Pfeiffer, Lee. "The Fly: Film By Neumann (1958)", Encyclopædia Britannica, Chicago, Illinois, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2019.

None of Owens' subsequent films ever attained the same level of success as The Fly. She co-starred in the 1960 war film Hell to Eternity, then in 1961 appeared in the threadbare, backlot P.O.W./jungle chase drama Seven Women from Hell. Owens made occasional television appearances, on series such as Perry Mason and Burke's Law, but these were relatively infrequent. Owens starred in the 1959 episode "The Crystal Trench" of the series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She was also in an episode of Tales of Wells Fargo titled "Assignment In Gloribee" in 1962. She plays an uptight, cynical Bostonian who is sent out west to write a "favorable" review of the west, on behalf of Wells Fargo.

By 1965, Owens was working in Black Spurs, a B-Western produced by A. C. Lyles, who was renowned for using older stars in that genre. She retired from feature films in 1968 after portraying the love interest in the low-budget espionage thriller The Destructors. Later that same year, she made her last professional appearance in a televised episode of Lassie.

Personal life Owens was married and divorced three times. Her first husband, producer and screenwriter Sy Bartlett, and she were wed in 1956 and remained together for two years. She next married Jerome Nathanson in 1960, and they had one child before their divorce in 1961. Her third marriage was to John Austin from 1969 until their divorce in 1975.

Death Owens died in Lancaster, California on August 31, 2000, aged 75.

Filmography

Film YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes1943Miss London Ltd.Miss LondonVal GuestUncredited1944English Without TearsGirl Getting Autograph Harold FrenchGive Us the MoonChambermaidVal GuestOne Exciting NightBit partWalter Forde1947While the Sun ShinesAnthony Asquith1948Things Happen at NightFrancis SearlePanic at Madame Tussaud'sPhyllis EdwardsPeter Graham Scott1949Paper OrchidMary MacSweeneyRoy Ward Baker1950BaitAnna HastingsFrank RichardsonCredited as 'Patricia Owen'The Happiest Days of Your LifeAngela ParryFrank LaunderCredited as 'Pat Owens'Old Mother Riley HeadmistressGirlJohn Harlow1951Mystery JunctionMabel DawnMichael McCarthy1952Crow HollowWillowGhost ShipJoyceVernon Sewell1953House of BlackmailJoanMaurice ElveyKnights of the Round TableLady VivienRichard ThorpeUncredited1954The Good Die YoungWinnie Lewis GilbertA Stranger Came HomeBlondeTerence FisherCredited as 'Pat Owens'Tale of Three WomenMaryPaul DicksonSegment: "Final Twist"1955WindfallConnie LeeHenry Cass1957Alive on SaturdaySally ParkerAlfred TraversIsland in the SunSylvia FleuryRobert RossenNo Down PaymentJean MartinMartin RittSayonaraEileen WebsterJoshua Logan1958The Law and Jake WadePeggyJohn SturgesThe Fly Hélène DelambreKurt NeumannThe Gun RunnersLucy MartinDon Siegel1959These Thousand HillsJoyceRichard Fleischer1959Five Gates to HellJoyJames Clavell1960Hell to EternitySheila LincolnPhil Karlson1961Seven Women from HellGrace IngramRobert D. WebbX-15Margaret BrandonRichard Donner1964Walk a TightropeEllen SheppardFrank Nesbitt1965Black SpursClare GrubbsR. G. Springsteen1968The DestructorsCharlieFrancis D. Lyon

Television YearTitleRoleNotes1955London PlayhouseMaryEpisode: "The Inward Eye"1956Colonel March of Scotland YardBetty HartleyEpisode: "The New Invisible Man"1959Alfred Hitchcock PresentsStella BallisterEpisode: "The Crystal Trench"Adventures in ParadiseRusty HaynesEpisode: "The Raft"1960Alcoa TheatreKay Armory WhiteEpisode: "Action Off Screen"1961Follow the SunMargaret JacksonEpisode: "Another Part of the Jungle"1962Tales of Wells FargoKatherine Anne MurdockEpisode: "Assignment in Gloribee"Bus StopConnie BrookeEpisode: "The Ordeal of Kevin Brooke"1963The UntouchablesMarcy DevonEpisode: "The Charlie Argos Story"1964GunsmokeNoraEpisode: "Scot Free"1966Burke's LawSharon O'Brien2 episodesPerry MasonJune BurgessEpisode: "The Case of the Avenging Angel"1968LassieLinda MonroeEpisode: "Lassie's Race for Life"

Partial stage credits

Pick-Up Girl (1946, Prince of Wales Theatre and Hippodrome, London) - Mary (replacement) Second Threshold (1952, Theatre Royal, Brighton and Vaudeville Theatre, London) - Thankful Mather

References

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