Patsy King, best known as Governor Erica Davidson from Prisoner, has died at age 95.
Born in Melbourne, she trained as a Shakespearian actress and became well established in theatre circles, working alongside contemporaries including Frank Thring, Barry Humphries and Mary Hardy. She won an Erik award as Melbourne’s best actress in 1964 for her role in The Fourposter. In that role she had to age from 20 to 60. Other stage credits included Peter Pan, Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Importance Of Being Earnest and Half A Sixpence.
She performed in radio plays and in 1961 made her television debut in the ABC play The Rivals, which was performed live-to-air. She found the experience of performing live on television unnerving, but, she told TV Times years later: “It was a very exciting thing to do.”
She went on to appear in numerous other televised plays and performed multiple guest roles in Crawford police dramas including Homicide, Hunter, Matlock Police and Division 4.
In 1966, she was one of the first presenters appointed to ABC’s Play School and later starred in children’s series Adventure Island as Miss Behaviour.
Going from the late 1960s into the ’70s, other credits included Good Morning Mr Doubleday, Dynasty, The Long Arm, This Love Affair and wartime drama Marion.
Following appearances in The Box, Power Without Glory, Bluey, Chopper Squad, The Sullivans and Bellbird, she became a household name as Governor Erica Davidson in Prisoner. She played the role of the intellectual authoritarian with gravitas but was also allowed to show a character with empathy and a focus on rehabilitation for inmates.
She left the series in 1983 but returned for a brief stint the following year as the now-former governor had taken on a new role at the Department of Corrections with oversight of Wentworth Detention Centre.
Despite her dramatic range and the high profile that Prisoner afforded her, it was to be King’s last television credit. She continued performing in the theatre and later reprised the role of Governor Davidson in the stage adaptation of Prisoner in the UK.
Patsy King was married to theatre director John Sumner until 1967. She is survived by her sister, Valerie Logada.
YouTube: Prisoner Connection
Source: Australian Arts Review, IMDB, AusStage. TV Times, 20 January 1971, 6 July 1974, 14 July 1979. TV Week, 14 February 1972.
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That’s sad to learn. I used to see her travelling on Melbourne’s trams for many years. I spoke to her once in the twenty teens about something unrelated to acting. By then she was using a walking stick and I don’t think she knew that I knew who she was. I can remember thinking once, do none of you people in this tram know who she is?