Patty Maloney
Patty Maloney | |
---|---|
Born | Patricia Anne Maloney March 17, 1936 Perkinsville, New York, U.S. |
Died | March 31, 2025 Winter Park, Florida, U.S. | (aged 89)
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1973–2005 |
Height | 119 cm (3 ft 11 in)[1] |
Spouse |
Joseph Vitek
(m. 1961; died 1968) |
Patricia Anne Maloney (March 17, 1936 – March 31, 2025) was an American actress.
Early life
[edit]Maloney was born in Perkinsville, New York, and was raised in Winter Park, Florida, by her mother and stepfather. Standing 3 feet 11 inches (119 cm) and weighing 60 pounds (27 kg), she performed in carnivals and circuses in her youth. She married Joseph Vitek in 1961. During their marriage, she worked as a keypunch operator at Clipper Carloading in Chicago. After Vitek died from melanoma in 1968, her friends encouraged her to return to performing as a way to deal with grief.[2][3]
Career
[edit]Maloney was best known as Honk from Far Out Space Nuts, as Lumpy from the Star Wars Holiday Special, and as Darla Hood from the animated TV series version of The Little Rascals. She appeared in Star Trek: Voyager in 1996.
She was often a guest on the 1970s variety series Donny & Marie, and portrayed the robot waitress Tina in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Cruise Ship to the Stars".
In 1977 she appeared in the episode "Ida Works Out" on Rhoda as a witch on Halloween looking for a costume party in Rhoda's apartment building.
From 1982, she was also an animation voice actor, worked on the Monopoly game show pilot, and even operated the Crypt Keeper puppet on Tales from the Crypt. Maloney appeared in Ernest Saves Christmas with California native Buddy Douglas as Santa's two elves. In 2011, she appeared as herself in Hanlet: Episode 41⁄2 – Attack of the Phantom Special, an independent documentary film about the making of Star Wars Holiday Special.
Another of her voice roles was in 1988, alongside Jeff Cohen, Glynis Johns and Casey Kasem in the movie Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School as Tanis the Mummy.
Illness and death
[edit]In 2010, Maloney was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, a visual impairment which severely limited her ability to read scripts and other textual matter. After suffering several strokes, she died in Winter Park on March 31, 2025, at the age of 89.[2]
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1978 | The Lord of the Rings | Voice | |
1981 | Under the Rainbow | Rosie | |
1984 | The Ice Pirates | Waitress | |
1984 | Swing Shift | Laverne | |
1988 | Ernest Saves Christmas | Thisbe | |
1991 | The Addams Family | Lois Addams | |
1999 | Twin Falls Idaho | June |
Television
[edit]Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1973 | Don't Be Afraid of the Dark | Creature | Television film |
1974 | Punch and Jody | Mrs. Stilts | |
1975 | Far Out Space Nuts | Honk | 9 episodes |
1976 | Don't Call Us | Sylvia | Television film |
1976, 1977 | The Brady Bunch Hour | Various roles | 2 episodes |
1977 | Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman | Skipper | 5 episodes |
Charlie's Angels | Tinkle Belle | Episode: "Circus of Terror" | |
Rhoda | Witch | Episode: "Ida Works Out" | |
1978 | Star Wars Holiday Special | Lumpy | Television film |
The Love Boat | Dottie Warren | Episode: "The Little People" | |
The Krofft Superstar Hour | Various roles | 13 episodes | |
1979–1980 | Buck Rogers in the 25th Century | Twiki / Tina | 3 episodes |
1981 | Side Show | Thelma Tiny | Television film |
1982 | Little House on the Prairie | Alice Bates | Episode: "Little Lou" |
Madame's Place | Patty, the Secretary | Episode: Pilot | |
1982–1983 | The Little Rascals | Darla | 31 episodes |
1984 | Trapper John, M.D. | Megan | Episode: "A Little Knife Music" |
Pryor's Place | Dumb #1 | Episode: "Voyage to the Planet of the Dumb" | |
The Smurfs | Blue Eyes | 2 episodes | |
1985 | Amazing Stories | Alien | Episode: "Fine Tuning" |
1985–1986 | Dumbo's Circus | Dink the Koala Bear | 81 episodes |
1986 | Barnum | Older Tom Thumb | Television film |
Zoobilee Zoo | Ergo | Episode: "Close Encounters of a Zooble Kind" | |
1987 | Throb | Little Woman | Episode: "Death Be Not Weird" |
Out of This World | Baby Neil | Episode: "Baby Talk" | |
1988 | Circus | Maggie | Television film |
Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School | Tanis the Mummy (voice) | ||
1990 | Married... with Children | Alien | Episode: "Married... with Aliens" |
1995 | Legend | Zorelda Tombs | Episode: "Clueless in San Francisco" |
A.J.'s Time Travelers | B.I.T. | 33 episodes | |
1996 | Star Trek: Voyager | Little Woman | Episode: "The Thaw" |
1997 | Pearl | Maggie | Episode: "Billy Returns" |
The New Batman Adventures | Mrs. Segar (voice) | Episode: "Double Talk" | |
1998 | Nash Bridges | Tricia | Episode: "The Tourist" |
2005 | My Name Is Earl | Woman with Chimney | Episode: "Teacher Earl" |
References
[edit]- ^ Hal Erickson (January 1998). Sid and Marty Krofft: A Critical Study of Saturday Morning Children's Television. McFarland. p. 160. ISBN 9780786405183. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- ^ a b Barnes, Mike. "Patty Maloney, 'Far Out Space Nuts' and 'Star Wars Holiday Special' Actress, Dies at 89". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
- ^ "Vitek". newspapers.com. The Chicago Tribune. 11 February 1968. p. 109. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
External links
[edit]- Patty Maloney at IMDb
- Star Wars Holiday Special site Archived 2017-12-14 at the Wayback Machine
- Short Persons Support page
- 1936 births
- 2025 deaths
- Actors with dwarfism
- American actors with disabilities
- American film actresses
- American television actresses
- Actresses from New York (state)
- Actresses from Orlando, Florida
- University of Florida alumni
- People from Winter Park, Florida
- People from Steuben County, New York
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American women
- Hanna-Barbera people
- American screen actor, 1930s birth stubs