Milicent Patrick

Born Mildred di Rossi, Milicent Patrick's family moved to central California when her father was hired to work on Hearst Castle, eventually becoming the construction superintendent on the project. A gifted artist, she received scholarships to attend Chouinard Art Institute, a filter for Walt Disney Animation that would soon become known as California Institute of the Arts. She was hired as an animator at Disney in 1939, working on projects including the legendary "Fantasia" (1940). She married animator Paul Fitzpatrick in 1941 and left Disney to tend to her new home. The marriage didn't last long and newly named Milicent Patrick turned to the screen, landing some uncredited extra work as well as a small part on an episode of "The Roy Rogers Show" (NBC, 1951-57). By the early 1950s she was back behind the scenes as well, working on drawings and masks for Universal productions including "It Came From Outer Space" (1953) and "Abbot & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1953). Her most famous creation was the Gill-man mask for "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954). When Patrick was sent out to do publicity for the film, it angered her boss, who refused to work with her, effectively ending that part of her career and burying her important contribution to once of cinemas most iconic monsters. She continued to sporadically get small roles in film and TV, ending with a small role in "The Pink Jungle" (1968). She passed away in Los Angeles in 1998.