Patricia Roc
Patricia Roc
Roc began as a stage actress, debuting in the 1938 London production of Nuts in May, in which she was seen by Alexander Korda who cast her in a leading role as a Polish princess in The Rebel Son.[1]She was employed by the studio of J. Arthur Rank, who called her "the archetypal British beauty"[2] She achieved her greatest level of popularity in British films during the Second World War in escapist melodramas for Gainsborough Studios.[1]She played prominent roles in some patriotic films of the period, such as Let the People Sing (1941) with Alastair Sim and We'll Meet Again (1943) with Vera Lynn. She co-starred with Phyllis Calvert, Jean Kent and Flora Robson as an internment camp inmate in Two Thousand Women (1944).[1]Love Story (1944) allowed her to play 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.[1] They played rivals in two subsequent films, The Wicked Lady (1944) and Jassy (1945). Roc's more overt sexuality in such films as The Wicked Lady was downplayed for the American market; her décolletage led US censors to call for retakes to de-emphasise it[3]) and "the Goddess of Odeons", whilst Noël Coward said she was "a phenomenon" and "an unspoiled movie star who can act".
