Lee Patterson

Lee Patterson (March 31, 1929 – February 14, 2007) was a Canadian actor whose career spanned film, television, and stage across multiple decades and countries. He made his Broadway appearance in 1964 in I Love You. Patterson died in Galveston, Texas, on February 14, 2007, at the age of 77, from congestive heart failure with complications from lung cancer and emphysema. His death went unreported for nearly a year.

Patterson relocated to the United Kingdom, where he built an early screen career playing virile American types in British productions. His British film appearances included The Good Die Young (1954), Above Us the Waves (1955), Reach for the Sky (1956), The Key Man (1957), Time Lock (1957), The Golden Disc (1958), Cat & Mouse (1958), Jack the Ripper (1959), and The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960). He later returned to the UK to portray Captain Randolph Southard, a hard-bitten navigation expert, in the stage production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial at The Queen's Theatre, London, in 1985, a production directed by Charlton Heston.

After moving to the United States in the early 1960s, Patterson shifted his focus primarily to television. He appeared in two episodes of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series The Alaskans, playing Tom Kirk in the episode "Behind the Moon" and Jeff Warren in "Sign of the Kodiak." He was subsequently cast as fictional detective Dave Thorne in the ABC/Warner Brothers series Surfside 6, set aboard a houseboat anchored at Miami Beach, Florida, which co-starred Van Williams, Troy Donahue, Diane McBain, and Margarita Sierra. His television work continued with a guest role in the fourth season of Combat! in 1965, where he played O.S.S. Officer Captain Howard in the episode "9 Place Vendee," and an appearance in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Midnight Howler" in early 1966, in which he portrayed Dan Thorne.

Patterson established a substantial presence in daytime television beginning before 1970. His first soap opera role was Brad Kiernan on ABC's The Nurses. Following that series' cancellation in 1967, he joined the original cast of One Life to Live, reuniting him with producer Doris Quinlan, who had also produced The Nurses. Patterson played the character Joe Riley on One Life to Live, remaining with the show until 1970, when the character was presumed dead. He returned to the role in 1972 and continued as the romantic lead until 1979, departing after Quinlan left the production to produce NBC's The Doctors. He subsequently joined Another World and its spinoff Texas, playing Dr. Kevin Cooke. The character originated on Another World before transferring to Texas when that series launched on August 4, 1980. Patterson remained with Texas until 1981, when the show underwent revisions in response to low ratings; Texas was cancelled in 1982. He returned to One Life to Live from 1986 to 1988, this time as Joe Riley's twin brother, Tom Dennison.

Beyond his soap opera work, Patterson appeared in the television productions War and Remembrance, Magnum, P.I., and The A-Team. His film credits included Chato's Land (1972), Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), and Healer (1994), in which he played Sergeant Gaylor in what became his final screen role.