Pat Carroll, voice of Ursula in The Little Mermaid , dies at age 95
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Pat Carroll, award-winning actress and comedian perhaps most memorably known as the voice of Ursula the sea witch in The Little Mermaid, has died at the age of 95, EW can confirm.
Carroll died at her home in Cape Cod, Mass. while recovering from pneumonia.
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Born Patricia Ann Carroll on May 5, 1927 in Shreveport, La., Carroll started her acting career in 1947 with her first credit as Lorelei Crawford in the 1948 film Hometown Girl. For her 1955 Broadway debut in Catch a Star!, Carroll was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Turning to television, she won a Best Supporting Actress Emmy in 1957 for her work on the sketch comedy show Caesar's Hour. She later nabbed a series regular role on Make Room for Daddy from 1961 to 1964.
Around this time, in 1963, Carroll was cast as the original voice of Jane Jetson in The Jetsons, but was replaced by Penny Singleton. Carroll and The Dick Van Dyke Show's Morey Amsterdam, who was slated to play George Jetson, then sued Hanna-Barbera for breach of contract. Reportedly the actors were replaced over sponsor conflicts between their two shows, with the court ruling in favor of Hanna-Barbera.
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In 1965, Carroll was cast as Prunella, one of the evil stepsisters in the TV production of Cinderella, starring Lesley Ann Warren. Throughout the '60s and '70s, Carroll guest starred on pretty much every variety show on television, from The Red Buttons Show and The Red Skelton Show to The Danny Kaye Show and The Carol Burnett Show.
Carroll, however, was more than just a comedic actress. Her one-woman show Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein won her a Drama Desk Award. And her recorded version of the show won her a Grammy in 1980 for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama.
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By the '80s, Carroll had been a working voice actress in animated shows like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Foofur, but it was her 1989 performance in The Little Mermaid that endeared Carroll to generations of viewers. As Ursula, Carroll sang "Poor Unfortunate Souls," stealing not only poor Ariel's voice but also the entire movie.
The actress considered Ursula one of her favorite roles and she went on to reprise the character in other Disney spin-off shows, video games, and theme park attractions.
For the balance of her career, Carroll split between acclaimed turns on the stage, guest starring roles on television, and the occasional movie. She was married from 1955 to 1976 to Lee Karsian, and together they had three children, including actress Tara Karsian.
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