Actress Pat Carroll, famous for voicing the characer of Ursula in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” has passed at age 95.
Her Beginnings
Patricia Ann Carroll was born May 5, 1927 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was five years old, and she soon began acting in local productions.
After a stint in the Army following high school, she started her acting career full time.
In 1956, Carroll won an Emmy Award for her work on “Sid Caesar’s House,” and was a regular on the sitcom “Make Room for Daddy” from 1961 to 1964.
Her Disney Work
Her first role with Disney was as the voice of Ursula in the 1989 animated film “The Little Mermaid,” a role which she also performed on the TV series of the same name.
She also performed as Ursula in “House of Mouse,” “Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventures,” the Kingdom Hearts video games, and 2020’s “The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse,” to name a few.
Her other voice roles included Ursula’s sister Morgana in “Return to the Sea,” Old Lady Crowley in the first season of “Tangled: The Series,” an old female turtle in “A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventure,” as Koo-Koo in the original “Chip ‘n’ Dale’ Rescue Rangers,” and as Treeny in “A Goofy Movie.”
On TV, she was Lily Feeney (mother of Shirley) on the 70’s ABC sitcom “Laverne & Shirley.”
Her Other Work
In addition to her Emmy, Carroll won several theater awards for her one-woman show on Gertrude Stein. She also won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama for the show.
Among her non-Disney voice work, she voiced Granny in the Hayao Miyazaki film, “My Neighbor Totoro.”
She also has a huge IMDB list of television guest credits in many 70’s and 80s series like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Love, American Style,” “Police Woman,” “The Love Boat,” “Trapper John, M.D.,” and “Too Close For Comfort.”
Her Passing
Carroll died at her home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts on July 30, while recovering from pnuemonia.
Her survivors include daughters Kerry Karsian and Tara Karsian, and granddaughter Evan Karsian-McCormick.