Patricia Roc

One of Britain's biggest female stars of the post-war years, she appeared at various positions (3rd being the highest) in the British and Motion Picture Herald popularity polls, between 1945-50. She was pretty, vivacious and charming, which was all most of her early roles called for. She appeared in a number of the hugely popular wartime Gainsborough costume dramas, including _Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945)_ (qv) and _The Wicked Lady (1945)_ (qv). She also made one film in Hollywood, the Technicolor _Canyon Passage (1946)_ (qv). Her best acting opportunities were in _The Brothers (1947)_ (qv), as a sexy orphan wreaking havoc on a remote Scottish Island, and _When the Bough Breaks (1947)_ (qv), a stark unwed mother drama.She moved to Paris upon her second marriage in 1949 and began to work increasingly in European cinema, filming in France and Italy (and a French-Canadian feature in Quebec). She returned to England in the late fifties, making three more films (her last) and a few TV appearances before retiring in 1963. She lived in Locarno, Switzerland for many years and died there in December 2003.::jims@crusaid.org.uk