Remembering Lee Patterson

Lee Patterson had an easygoing style to his acting, a style he brought to every role I saw him in. Whether he was playing the beloved Joe Riley on One Life to Live or senior private detective partner Dave Thorne in SurfSide 6, Patterson presented charm.

Lee Patterson died on February 14, 2007 at the age of 77. The news of his passing was just announced in a few scattered media outlets this week. Soap.com's obituary simply lists his cause of death as "an illness."

The Canadian-born Patterson began his acting career in the early 1950s with roles in movies and guest-starring parts in television shows. In 1960 he was cast opposite two popular beefcake heartthrobs, Troy Donahue (who had just scored success in A Summer Place in 1959) and Van Williams (who had starred as the same character, Ken Madison, in the previous season's unsuccessful Bourbon Street Beat program with Andrew Duggan and Richard Long) in SurfSide 6, one of many detective/adventure series created by William T. Orr for Warner Brothers Television. All modeled after the highly successful 77 Sunset Strip, SurfSide 6 was set in Miami Beach. Patterson played the senior partner in the show's title detective agency (which was also their phone exchange - SUrfside 6-2345 according to several episodes).

Dave Thorne, Patterson's character, was a "doctor of law" according to his business cards (shown in the episode "Power of Suggestion": a mind reader was supposed to be able to read his assistant's mind after she read something personal from an audience member). He was also, as I mentioned in my TV.com obit, a doctor of wisenheimer. With a serious expression on his face, Thorne flung one-liners that would leave strangers, friends, and co-workers standing in stunned silence after he strolled off.

The character had an extensive history: Korean War veteran of the Air Force and a prisoner of war during the conflict, Thorne became a lawyer and assistant district attorney in New York (a few episodes, including SurfSide 6's first episode, "Country Gentleman," centered around criminals he knew from his days as prosecutor in New York who had made their way to Miami Beach and crossed paths with him again). As with the other detectives, Thorne was single and quick to spin his head on his neck when he saw a good-looking female.

SurfSide 6 lasted two seasons, one of the longer-running 77 Sunset Strip knock-offs. (Interestingly, there were two "crossover" episodes between the two series. 77's "The Hot Tamale Caper" featured a missing Rex Randolph Bourbon Street Beat who was "rescued" after that show's cancellation and transferred to another program], so the 77 detectives notify Randolph's former partner, Ken Madison, about the disappearance. SurfSide featured Jeff Spencer visiting Miami and becoming a suspect in a murder in "Love Song for a Deadly Redhead," which also featured Kookie arriving in Miami at the end of the episode.) SurfSide 6 was cancelled in 1962, leaving only 77 and one other William T. Orr program, Hawaiian Eye, on the air.

After the cancellation, Patterson continued guest star roles until 1968, when he joined the cast of the new ABC soap opera One Life to Live. Playing Joe Riley, Patterson was on the series for 11 years until his character, in true soap opera fashion, was killed off. Patterson returned to the soap a few years later as Riley's long-lost and never-known-about twin brother (also in true soap opera fashion).

Patterson's last role listed in IMDB is in 1994's film Healer. He apparently retired from acting into a quiet - very quiet, if his death could go unnoticed by the media for eight months - life.

I was in diapers when SurfSide 6 originally aired, so my viewing of the program has been much after the fact. My initial interest in it was due to Van Williams (who played Ken). However, Patterson's charm quickly made Dave Thorne a most beloved character, not only from that program but in all of my television viewing.

Farewell to Lee Patterson, who died February 14, 2007 at the age of 77.