Lory Patrick Dies: ‘Tales Of Wells Fargo’, ‘Surf Party’ Actor, Widow Of Disney Regular Dean Jones Was 92

Lory Patrick, who had a prolific TV acting career in the 1960s with TV credits including Tales of Wells Fargo, Wagon Train and Bonanza and film roles in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and beach movie Surf Party, died peacefully on January 26 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She was 92.

Her death was announced by family.

The widow of Dean Jones, the actor who starred in such Disney live action films of the era including That Darn Cat!, The Love Bug and The Shaggy D.A., Patrick, whose off-camera name was Lory Basham Jones, also wrote episodes of TV western Bonanza, a rarity for a woman at the time.

Before retiring from acting in the late 1960s, Patrick appeared in over 70 television series including The Many Loves of Dobie Willis, The Adventures of Ozzie and Hariet, the G.E. Theatre with Lee J. Cobb, Alcoa Presents with Fred Astaire and Dr. Kildare, among many others.

Born Loretta Basham on April 8, 1933, in Beckley, West Virginia, Patrick moved briefly to Detroit after graduating high school to launch a modeling career. She subsequently moved to New York City for modeling and TV commercial work, landing a spot on the NBC game show Split Personality. After relocating to Los Angeles, made an appearance on The Loretta Young Show and was signed by Universal Studios to co-star with Dale Robertson in NBC’s Tales of Wells Fargo series (by then she was using the stage name Lory Patrick).

After retiring from acting, Patrick continued writing TV and film projects and was a columnist for a writer’s magazine. As an author, she wrote an award-winning devotional book Hearing God which received a 2000 “Excellence in Print” Award.

In 1984, Patrick directed the original stage production of the play St. John in Exile starring Dean, which toured the country and is still performed today. In 1986, when the play was made into a film starring Jones, Patrick (as Lory Basham Jones) was credited as the stage director.

After Dean died in 2015, Patrick moved from Tarzana, California, to Gettysburg to spend time with family. She is survived by children Caroline Jones (and husband Steve Haugen), Deanna Demaree (and husband Tom Demaree) and Michael Pastick (and wife Dion Pastick), as well as eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; brothers Richard Basham, Tom Basham, Paul Basham (and wife Ethel); sister Carol Vanderhoof; and other extended family.