Neva Patterson

Neva Patterson, who died on 14 December aged 90, was an actress who played Cary Grant’s fiancée in the 1957 classic film An Affair to Remember. Patterson was already a Broadway veteran when she was cast to play the part of Lois opposite Grant. “She just loved the fact that she kissed Cary Grant the first day on the set,” her daughter said. “She really loved Cary Grant.”

Shehad originated the role of Helen Sherman in the 1952 Broadway play The Seven Year Itch. The daughter of a postman and a seamstress, she made her stage debut as Brenda Maddox in New York in The Druid Circle. The film information website imdb.com described the kind of role Patterson specialised in: “brittle, overwrought ladies, notoriously glamorous, usually business-oriented and, more often than not, quite overbearing.” Her other credits include Taxi (1953); Counterpoint (1967); and All the President’s Men (1976).

She had parts roles in TV series such as Charlie’s Angels, The Waltons and The Rockford Files. All in all, she made more than 100 appearances on film and television. Her roles in the 1980s TV mini-series V and V: The Final Battle won her a continuing fan base.