By: Sara Li
Pat Carroll, the actress, best known as the voice of “The Little Mermaid’s Ursula, died at 95 over the weekend.
“It is with a heavy heart that I write that my mother, Pat Carroll, has passed away at the grand old age of 95,” wrote her daughter, Tara Karisan. “We ask that you honor her by having a raucous laugh at absolutely anything today (and every day forward) because, besides her brilliant talent and love, she leaves my sister Kerry and I with the greatest gift of all, imbuing us with humor and the ability to laugh…even in the saddest of times.”
Karisan spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and said Carroll died of pneumonia on Saturday at her home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The post was shared alongside a meme featuring Carroll, , which read, “There is nothing more beautiful than Pat Carroll laughing.” Karsian wrote, “Truer words were never written and this is how we’ll always remember her.”
Carroll leaves behind her two daughters, Kerry and Tara Karsian. She was also married to Lee Karsian from 1955 to 1976. Her son Sean Karsian died in 2009. Carroll was an accomplished actress, having won many awards, including an Emmy Award win, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award nomination.
Her work on Sid Caesar’s variety show, “Caesar’s Hour,” in the 1950s earned her an Emmy Award in 1957. Carroll also played Bunny Halper, the wife of nightclub owner Charlie Halper (Sid Melton), on “The Danny Thomas Show” in the early ’60s and acted opposite Suzanne Somers on the series “She’s the Sheriff” in the late ’80s, playing her mother, Gussie Holt.
Carroll’s other notable appearances on television included playing the hospital roommate of Mary Tyler Moore’s character in a 1971 episode of the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” and Lily Feeney, the mother of Cindy Williams’ character, on a 1976 episode of “Laverne & Shirley.”
She has appeared in multiple films, including two Doris Day-starring films in the ’60s, the English dub of “My Neighbor Totoro” in 1988, and both “Freedom Writers” and “Nancy Drew” in 2007. She was also nominated for a Tony for her Broadway debut in “Catch a Star!” and won a Grammy for her work on the show “Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein.
“Additionally, Carroll was a game show favorite, appearing on “To Tell the Truth,” “Match Game,” “I’ve Got a Secret,” “Password,” “You Don’t Say,” and “The $10,000 Pyramid.”
Source: The Little Mermaid star Pat Carroll, the voice of Ursula, dies at 95