Super Humans - Patricia "Patty" McCormack

Patricia "Patty" McCormack (born August 21, 1945) is an American actress with a career in theater, films and television.

McCormack began her career as a child actress. She is perhaps best known for her performance as the title character in Maxwell Anderson's shocking psychological drama The Bad Seed. She received critical acclaim for the role on Broadway and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mervyn LeRoy's classic film adaptation of the same name in 1956. Her acting career has continued with both starring and supporting roles in film and television, including Helen Keller in the original Playhouse 90 production of The Miracle Worker and a more recent performance as Pat Nixon in Frost/Nixon (2008). McCormack was born Patricia Ellen Russo in Brooklyn, New York to Elizabeth (née McCormack), a professional roller skater, and Frank Russo, a fireman. She attended New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn. She is an aunt of fellow actor and New York City lawmaker Alfred Cerullo. She was a child model at the age of four and began appearing on television at the age of seven. She made her motion picture debut in Two Gals and a Guy (1951) and appeared in the television series Mama with Peggy Wood from 1953-56. Her Broadway debut was in Touchstone (1953), and the following year she originated the role of Rhoda Penmark, an eight-year-old sociopath and fledgling serial killer, in the original stage version of Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed (1954) with Nancy Kelly. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film version, The Bad Seed (1956). She originated the role of Helen Keller in the original 1957 Playhouse 90 production of William Gibson's The Miracle Worker opposite Teresa Wright.