Post by Coopsgirl on Aug 9, 2010 10:34:00 GMT -6
I just saw this morning that actress Patricia Neal passed away yesterday (August 8) from lung cancer at age 84. Here are some articles that give good overviews of her life and accomplished career.
www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/08/09/patricia-neal-oscar-winner-dies/?test=faces
www.variety.com/article/VR1118022739.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
As fans of Gary know, they had an affair from 1948 until 1951. It began after filming completed on The Fountainhead; Gary was 47 and Pat was 22. At first it was a fling but quickly turned to love. Near the end of his life Gary said Rocky (his wife) was the only woman he really ever loved but I think to some degree he did love Pat. Otherwise I don’t think he would have separated from his wife (around 1950) and daughter who he dearly loved.
Pat broke it off between them in December 1951 after she finally came to the realization that he was not going to divorce his wife. She felt so much shame and guilt (not only over the affair but over the abortion she had earlier in ’51) that she went through months of therapy. She married for the only time in 1953 to author Roald Dahl and had six children (one died of measles in 1962). She had a series of strokes at age 39 and came so close to dying that a notice of her death actually appeared in the paper.
If anyone would like to know more about her life and career I can definitely recommend the book she wrote titled, As I Am. It’s wonderfully written and in reading it you get the feeling that you’re sitting down and having a conversation with her. She doesn’t hold back and discusses how she was molested in her youth by a doctor, how hard it was to get over the death of a child and the rehabilitation from her strokes, the divorce when she discovered her husband was cheating with her best friend, and of course her relationship with Gary. He pops up frequently throughout the book as he was still very much a part of her life long after their affair had ended.
She has said on several occasions that Gary was the love of her life and always would be. To be clear, I do not condone cheating. It was wrong of both Gary and Pat. Of course that’s easy to say not being in her shoes. If ever any one was irresistible, it was Gary Cooper and as much as I would like to think I wouldn’t have an affair with a married man, I’m not sure that I could have turned him down if I’d have been in her place.
I know a lot of Gary fans have mixed feelings about Pat but I have a lot of respect for her not only as an actress but as a person. She made mistakes but we all do and I think the good things she did in her life outweighed the bad. She was a good mother, wife, friend, and coworker – she never acted like a “movie star diva”.
What impresses me the most about Pat is her friendship with Maria (Gary’s daughter) and Rocky. As you can imagine these three women had plenty of cause to not like each other but their mutual love for Gary eventually brought them together. First Maria and Pat began what would become a deep friendship and then Rocky and Pat were able to put their issues aside as well. Rocky and Maria had always been devout Catholics and Maria helped Pat finally find real peace in what had been a sometimes troubled life when she helped Pat find her way back to God.
Pat is in Heaven now and while we don’t know exactly how it works, I’d like to think we get to be with the people we loved most while on Earth. So while death is sad for those left behind, it’s a happy homecoming for the ones who are gone and I’d like to think that right now Pat is being reunited with her family and friends who have gone before her.
www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/08/09/patricia-neal-oscar-winner-dies/?test=faces
www.variety.com/article/VR1118022739.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
As fans of Gary know, they had an affair from 1948 until 1951. It began after filming completed on The Fountainhead; Gary was 47 and Pat was 22. At first it was a fling but quickly turned to love. Near the end of his life Gary said Rocky (his wife) was the only woman he really ever loved but I think to some degree he did love Pat. Otherwise I don’t think he would have separated from his wife (around 1950) and daughter who he dearly loved.
Pat broke it off between them in December 1951 after she finally came to the realization that he was not going to divorce his wife. She felt so much shame and guilt (not only over the affair but over the abortion she had earlier in ’51) that she went through months of therapy. She married for the only time in 1953 to author Roald Dahl and had six children (one died of measles in 1962). She had a series of strokes at age 39 and came so close to dying that a notice of her death actually appeared in the paper.
If anyone would like to know more about her life and career I can definitely recommend the book she wrote titled, As I Am. It’s wonderfully written and in reading it you get the feeling that you’re sitting down and having a conversation with her. She doesn’t hold back and discusses how she was molested in her youth by a doctor, how hard it was to get over the death of a child and the rehabilitation from her strokes, the divorce when she discovered her husband was cheating with her best friend, and of course her relationship with Gary. He pops up frequently throughout the book as he was still very much a part of her life long after their affair had ended.
She has said on several occasions that Gary was the love of her life and always would be. To be clear, I do not condone cheating. It was wrong of both Gary and Pat. Of course that’s easy to say not being in her shoes. If ever any one was irresistible, it was Gary Cooper and as much as I would like to think I wouldn’t have an affair with a married man, I’m not sure that I could have turned him down if I’d have been in her place.
I know a lot of Gary fans have mixed feelings about Pat but I have a lot of respect for her not only as an actress but as a person. She made mistakes but we all do and I think the good things she did in her life outweighed the bad. She was a good mother, wife, friend, and coworker – she never acted like a “movie star diva”.
What impresses me the most about Pat is her friendship with Maria (Gary’s daughter) and Rocky. As you can imagine these three women had plenty of cause to not like each other but their mutual love for Gary eventually brought them together. First Maria and Pat began what would become a deep friendship and then Rocky and Pat were able to put their issues aside as well. Rocky and Maria had always been devout Catholics and Maria helped Pat finally find real peace in what had been a sometimes troubled life when she helped Pat find her way back to God.
Pat is in Heaven now and while we don’t know exactly how it works, I’d like to think we get to be with the people we loved most while on Earth. So while death is sad for those left behind, it’s a happy homecoming for the ones who are gone and I’d like to think that right now Pat is being reunited with her family and friends who have gone before her.