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Actress Pat Carroll has died at the age of 95. Carroll provided the voice of Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (which will soon be a live-action film). According to The Hollywood Reporter, Carroll died of pneumonia in her Cape Cod home on Saturday. While many recognize her for voicing Ursula, Carroll had a long career in film, TV, and stage that spanned from the late 1940s onward. Her quirky antics on the sketch-comedy Caesar’s Hour earned her an Emmy in 1957. The actress’s perkiness and wit made her remarkably popular. Legends such as Red Buttons, Mickey Rooney, Steve Allen, and Charley Weaver frequently called upon Carroll to add more humor to their programs.
Film, TV, and Stage Actress Pat Carroll
Carroll was born in 1927, and she began acting professionally 20 years later. She earned a role in a regional stock production of A Goose for Gander. She gained more stock production roles while simultaneously performing comedy in nightclubs and hotels. Her first official acting credit was in the 1948 film Hometown Girl. She became a series regular on The Danny Thomas Show from 1961 to 1964, and she also made appearances in Laverne & Shirley, The Jimmy Durante Show, and ER.
Carroll was an actress on the stage and was nominated for a Tony Award in 1956 for Catch a Star! According to Deadline, her recorded performance of her one-woman show as Gertrude Stein earned her a 1980 Grammy for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama.
Carroll Becomes Ursula
Carroll’s voice-acting career skyrocketed in the 1980s. She had roles in Pound Puppies, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, and Superman. In 1989, she provided the voice of Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid. Ursula is considered an iconic Disney villain. Pat Carroll voiced Ursula in several video games and in The Little Mermaid TV series. She was also brought in to voice Ursula’s sister Morgana in the direct-to-video sequel The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.
Actress and voice of Ursula Pat Carroll died on the same day as another acting legend, Nichelle Nichols, of the original Star Trek series. In their own rights, two major acting legends are gone on the same day.