Doris Patston

Doris May Patston Sheehan (28 May 1904 – 12 June 1957) was an English actress, dancer, pianist, and singer born in Islington, the daughter of Edward Henry Patston and Clara Eliza Denton Patston. She trained in voice and piano under Landon Ronald at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and began her performing career as a concert pianist and dancer before transitioning to work as an actress and singer on stage.

Patston's stage career spanned the London, New York, and Chicago stages from the 1910s into the 1950s. Her early credits included Cherry (1920), The Tempest (1921), Music Box Revue (1923), The Babes in the Wood (1923), and Little Nellie Kelly (1923–1924). She made her New York debut in 1925 in Florenz Ziegfeld's comedy Louie the 14th, which starred Leon Errol. Her Broadway career, which extended from 1925 to 1954, encompassed both musicals and dramas, and included productions such as Katja (1926–1927), Lovely Lady (1927–1928), All the King's Horses (1934), and Frederika (1937).

During the 1930s, Patston also performed at the St. Louis Municipal Opera, appearing in productions including The Circus Princess (1930), The Blue Paradise (1932), Nina Rosa (1933), and Bitter Sweet (1933). Her Broadway work continued through the 1940s with credits including A Kiss for Cinderella (1942), The New Moon (1942), Flare Path (1942), Sheppey (1944), Sadie Thompson (1944–1945), Thérèse (1945), The Chocolate Soldier (1946–1947), Toplitzky of Notre Dame (1946–1947), and My Romance (1948–1949). She appeared in Gigi from 1951 to 1952, and her final Broadway credit was The Starcross Story in 1954. She subsequently appeared in Witness for the Prosecution in Chicago from 1954 to 1956.

In 1929, while both were performing in the Chicago production of Lovely Lady, Patston married actor Jack Sheehan. She died on 12 June 1957 in New York City at the age of 53.