Pat Woodell, actress on Petticoat Junction, dies at 71

Pat Woodell, a former actress and singer who played the brainy sister Bobbie Jo Bradley for two seasons in the 1960s sitcom “Petticoat Junction,” died Sept. 29 at her home in Fallbrook, Calif. She was 71.

The cause was cancer, said her husband, Vern McDade.

Ms. Woodell appeared on TV shows such as “Cheyenne” and “77 Sunset Strip” before landing the role on “Petticoat Junction.” The series about the Shady Rest Hotel in the farming town of Hooterville aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. Ms. Woodell was the brunette of a group of three sisters whose romantic lives were a key part of the series.

She left the series after two years because she wanted to return to singing, McDade said. She toured as part of comic Jack Benny’s show and acted in a handful of movies including the horror drama “Twilight People” (1972) and the women-in-prison film “The Big Doll House” (1971), co-starring Pam Grier.

“I have no delusions about this movie,” Ms. Woodell said at the time.

Patricia Joy Woodell was born in Winthrop, Mass., in July 1944. Her first marriage, to actor and writer Gary Clarke, ended in divorce. Besides McDade, survivors include her stepfather, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The newspaper said Ms. Woodell gave up performing in the mid-1970s after becoming a follower of Werner Erhard’s controversial “est” self-motivation movement. She worked for the group, according to the Times, and later started a business consulting firm.

— from news services

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