Patricia Roc was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as Madonna of the Seven Moons and The Wicked Lady, though she only made one film in Hollywood, Canyon Passage. She also appeared in Millions Like Us, Jassy, The Brothers and When the Bough Breaks. She was employed by the studio of J. Arthur Rank, who called her "the archetypal British beauty" She achieved her greatest level of popularity in British films during the Second World War in escapist melodramas for Gainsborough Studios.
Early life
The adopted daughter of a Dutch-Belgian stockbroker, André Riese, and a half-French mother, she was educated at private schools in London and Paris, then was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1937. She did not learn that she was adopted until 1949. West End theatre producer Sydney Carroll discovered her and cast her in The Mask of Virtue at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. When Carroll thought Felicia Riese sounded "too foreign" and without character, he suggested he change her name to something short and memorable. As there was then a Rock Film Studios Carroll suggested "Rock" as a surname. She agreed but she suggested dropping the "k" to make the surname more memorable and shorter and "Patricia" was the nearest name to "Felicia".
Film career
Roc began her career as a stage actress, debuting in the 1938 London production of Nuts in May, in which she was seen by Alexander Korda, who gave her an uncredited bit in The Divorce of Lady X and then a leading role as a Polish princess in The Rebel Son. She had roles in The Gaunt Stranger, The Mind of Mr. Reeder, and The Missing People. She had a bigger part in A Window in London, the comedy Pack Up Your Troubles, Dr. O'Dowd, Three Silent Men, It Happened to One Man, and The Farmer's Wife. Her parts grew bigger: My Wife's Family, Suspected Person, Let the People Sing, and We'll Meet Again with Vera Lynn.
Stardom
Roc was top-billed in Millions Like Us from Gainsborough Studios. It was a success, and Gainsborough gave her another lead, as a nun interned by the Germans in Two Thousand Women. She appeared alongside two of Gainsborough's biggest stars, Margaret Lockwood and Stewart Granger, in Love Story, a big hit. Roc played the jealous rival of Margaret Lockwood. She later commented that although they were required to slap each other's faces, she and Lockwood were always the best of friends. Madonna of the Seven Moons, with Granger and Phyllis Calvert, was another success. Neither of them, however, did as well as The Wicked Lady and "the Goddess of Odeons", whilst Noël Coward said she was "a phenomenon" and "an unspoiled film star who can act". She was also in Johnny Frenchman. Co-starring in that film was Ralph Michael, who soon after divorced his wife Fay Compton; Roc was named in proceedings. Her brief move to Hollywood to film Canyon Passage, a Western in Technicolor, was a lend-lease agreement between Rank Pictures and Universal Studios of British in return for American film actors. During filming, Roc was romantically linked with Ronald Reagan, while her US co-star Susan Hayward stated "that Limey glamour girl is a helluva dame." Despite good reviews and a remarked likeness to Deanna Durbin, she didn’t click with the American filmgoing public. Roc returned to Britain to make The Brothers, a melodrama that was a commercial disappointment. She was in an expensive British-US co production So Well Remembered, which was a hit in Britain but failed to recoup its cost. Jassy, a melodrama with Lockwood, was a big hit. When the Bough Breaks, another melodrama, performed reasonably well. In 1947 British exhibitors voted Roc the sixth-most-popular British star in the country. The following year she was 9th. She walked out of London Belongs to Me claiming she was miscast. After making a cameo as herself in Holiday Camp, Roc was in One Night with You, a musical comedy with Nino Martini.
France
She made two films film in France, Return to Life and The Man on the Eiffel Tower. She returned to Britain to appear in a comedy The Perfect Woman then walked out on her contract with Rank in March 1949. In August 1949 she married French cameraman Andre Thomas. In Paris she made Black Jack. She also appeared in Fugitive from Montreal, a French-Canadian co production. Roc returned to Britain for the first time in 18 months to make Circle of Danger with Ray Milland. She then returned for Something Money Can't Buy.
Later films
Roc's later films included The Widow and The Hypnotist. Roc returned to Britain later in the decade following the death of husband, André Thomas. She produced only 3 more films and made a few television appearances.
