Photo Flash: Broadway Legend Patricia Morison Celebrates 101st Birthday

Best friend and host director John Bowab, Charlotte Rae, Janis Paige, critic Sylvie Drake, Peter White, Anne Jeffreys and Marty Wiviott of the Pantages Theatre, were among the select industry elite on hand to celebrate film and Broadway legend and icon, Patricia Morison's 101st birthday this week. Scroll down for photos from the celebration!

An evening of abundant comraderie and conversation, included memories of Hollywood greats in it's Golden Era and Broadway, while some of the original lights on the Great White Way were still shining. Even a childhood recollection of traveling aboard a ship during World War I, and being partially responsible for the discovery of a bomb meant to sink the boat.

"I really had two careers, one in film and one in the theater. I was lucky," says Ms. Morison.

Ms. Morison achieved full-fledged stardom on the Broadway stage, where she created the role of Lilli (and Katharine) in Cole Porter's hit musical "Kiss Me, Kate." In 1933, the teenager made her Broadway debut in the comedy "Growing Pains." By 1935, she was waiting in the wings to replace Helen Hayes in Laurence Housman's play "Victoria Regina," but had to remain behind the scenes throughout the run as an understudy. Morison's start in a Broadway musical took place, when she appeared in the original cast of Eleanor Farjeon's "The Two Bouquets," playing alongside the future Broadway legend Alfred Drake (with whom she would famously collaborate again) and the already well-established thespian Leo G. Carroll. Her performance and striking looks caught the attention of Hollywood, and she soon appeared in a steady stream of films: the thrillers "The Magnificent Fraud" and "Persons in Hiding," and the comedy "I'm from Missouri." In the 1940s alone she appeared in twenty-five films, sharing the screen with such Hollywood royalty as Ralph Bellamy, Katherine Hepburn, Myrna Loy, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, William Powell, Basil Rathbone, Spencer Tracy, and Johnny Weissmuller. Other films that have survived the test of time, include "The Song of Bernadette," and the early Tracy-Hepburn vehicle "Without Love." She had the leading role in the adventure film "Queen of the Amazons" and played opposite Johnny Weissmuller in "Tarzan and the Huntress." Despite her busy schedule in the movie studios, Morison briefly returned to Broadway to play in the musical "Allah Be Praised!," and then on to her next experience on the Great White Way which proved far more gratifying, when she starred opposite her old colleague Alfred Drake in the original production of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate!," a musical about an acting troupe performing Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." Her solo numbers "I Hate Men" and "So in Love," and her famous duet with Drake, "Wunderbar," were high points in the show ... and she has performed them as recently as 2015 on stage for charity events ... The chemistry between Drake and Morison was superb, and the musical was a smash hit - winning six Tony Awards®, including Best Musical and Best Composer and Lyricist, and playing for 1,077 performances. Morison went on to reprise the role of Lilli in the London production and on television. She returned to Broadway once more, stepping in to star as Anna Leonowens in "The King and I." She continued to take to the boards beyond Broadway in such works as "Milk and Honey," "Kismet," "The Merry Widow," "Separate Tables," and "Private Lives." Later film credits include "Song Without End," "Won Ton Ton: the Dog Who Saved Hollywood," and "Mirrors."

It seems as though the entire theatrical community is wishing Ms. Morison continued health and happiness for her 101st birthday.

Images Courtesy of Patricia Morison

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