Pat Carroll, a decades-long mainstay of comedic television who won an Emmy for “Caesar’s Hour” and voiced Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” has died. She was 95 years old.
His daughter Kerry Karsian, a casting agent, said Carroll died Saturday at his home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. His other daughter, Tara Karsian, wrote on Instagram that they want everyone to “honor him by laughing hard at anything today (and every day going forward) because, in addition to his brilliant talent and love, he leaves us my sister Kerry and me with the best gift of all, imbuing us with humor and the ability to laugh…even in the saddest of times.”
Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1927. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 5 years old. Her first film role was in 1948 in “Hometown Girl,” but she found her way into television. He won an Emmy for his work on the comedy series “Caesar’s Hour” in 1956, was a regular on “Make Room for Daddy” with Danny Thomas, a guest star on “The DuPont Show with June Allyson” and a variety show usual going through “The Danny Kaye Show,” “The Red Skelton Show,” and “The Carol Burnett Show.”
She also played one of the wicked stepsisters in the 1965 television production of “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” with Lesley Ann Warren.
She also played one of the wicked stepsisters in the 1965 television production of “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” with Lesley Ann Warren. And she won a Grammy in 1980 for the recording of her all-female show “Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein.”
A new generation would come to know and love her voice thanks to Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which came out in 1989. She wasn’t the first choice of directors Ron Clements and John Musker or the musical team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken , who reportedly wanted Joan Collins or Bea Arthur to voice the sea witch. Elaine Stritch was even originally cast before Carroll even auditioned. And her guttural rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” would make her one of Disney’s most memorable villains.
Carroll often said that Ursula was one of her favorite roles. He said he saw her as a “former Shakespearean actress now selling cars”.
“It’s an old thing! I think people are fascinated by bad characters,” Carroll said in an interview. “There’s a kind of fatal distraction about the horrible characters in the world because we don’t know too many of them in real life. So when we get a chance, theatrically, to see one and she’s a great one, it’s kind of fascinating for us.”
She had the opportunity to reprise the role in several sequels, spin-offs and even “The Little Mermaid” theme park rides.
Carroll was also the voice of Granny in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro.