Patricia Medina, Actress and Joseph Cotten’s Widow, Dies at 92

Patricia Medina, one of the most sought after actresses of the 1950s, has died at the age of 92.

The British-born actress died Saturday at Los Angeles’ Barlow Respiratory Hospital of natural causes.  

Born in Liverpool, England, in 1919, Medina came to Hollywood after World War II, where she parlayed her British acting career into a contract with MGM Studios.

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In her heyday, she starred in Orson Welles‘ Mr. Arkadin, William Witney‘s Stranger at My Door and Francis, the comedy that launched the Francis the Talking Mule franchise.

“She was a stunning woman,” close friend Meredith Silverbach told The Los Angeles Times after news of Medina’s death. “In her youth, they called her ‘the most beautiful face in England.'”

In 1960, Medina famously married actor Joseph Cotten. She went on to act on stage alongside the Citizen Kane and Shadow of a Doubt star, and the two remained married until Cotten’s 1994 death from pneumonia, a complication of his throat cancer.

Later in life, she appeared in television series such as Perry Mason and The Man from U.N.C.L.E..

Medina, who lived in Westwood, wrote about her career and life with Cotten in the 1998 autobiography Laid Back in Hollywood.

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