When American novelist John Steinbeck told Patricia Wilson "It's a helluva story, Pat, you should write it!" she didn't know it would take her nearly fifty years to get around to it. Yesterday's Mashed Potatoes: The Fabulous Life Of A Happy Has-Been tells the story of a third generation actress from a theatrical family, a child performer who grew up to become a star during Broadway's "Golden Age" and a respected Hollywood actress. Set against an authentic backdrop of theatrical, TV, and film history, the story spills over with anecdotes of the celebrated-Jackie Gleason, Richard Burton, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Carol Burnett, and among others, Bob Fosse and Gene Kelly ("I wasn't a dancer, and I was too tall for both of them!") But Patricia Wilson's personal life reads, in her words, "like a Danielle Steel novel!" This is a compelling tale of an everywoman's journey through love, loss, success and sorrow.
Yesterday's Mashed Potatoes: The Fabulous Life Of A Happy Has-Been won First Place For Excellence In Writing at The Santa Barbara Writers Conference, 2007.
"Fiorello! opened in 1959, won the Pulitzer Prize, and Patricia Wilson was one of its stars. She played Marie LaGuardia, wife of New York's still most beloved mayor, and did it with uncommon grace, charm-and yes, loveliness. Every word sung or spoken by Pat possessed extraordinary intelligence and modesty, and she was crucial to the success of that show. Her reminiscences make delightful reading..."...Harold S. "Hal" Prince
"-lucid, touching, candid, human-I've applauded your singing and acting-now I'm delighted to applaud your writing.Brava! .....Sheldon Harnick
"Yesterday's Mashed Potatoes: The Fabulous Life Of A Happy Has-Been. has all the qualities of a fine novel: funny, sometimes painfully touching, with sharply defined characters, cinematic flair, pungent dialogue, big close-ups, eloquent flashbacks, and voice-over asides, it is theatrical and film history as well as personal memoir, an intriguing blend of the two..."...Cork Millner, author: Hollywood Be Thy Name, The Warner Brothers Story
"What a privilege to read this memoir! I was riveted, and impressed by the deep spiritual strength Pat expresses. The rich theatrical heritage of her parents and grandparents is not only important to her personal story, but to that of our country..."...Preshy Marker, actress (A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)
"A lively and unpretentious autobiography! Patricia Wilson has written a book that can hold its own with the best of celebrity memoirs..."...David Meyers, music historian
Patricia Wilson is a familiar face, "like a comfortable old shoe, one most folks think they've met in the neighborhood supermarket or PTA." In reality, she is a veteran of the Broadway stage, four TV series, some 200 primetime episodes, nineteen films, two soap operas, and commercials too numerous to count. Born in Columbus, Ohio, to actor/entertainer parents, she grew up singing in her mother's act, and worked her way through Ohio State University "warbling on the radio and selling gas ranges on WBNS-TV." After graduating in three years with honors and a BA in English, she and her college sweetheart married and left Columbus for New York. "My father convinced me I wasn't pretty enough to go to Hollywood." Since that time, she has worked "everywhere, including Hollywood." Mother of two grown daughters, Pat currently lives in Sherman Oaks, California, with Pete, "a codependent Chihuahua." She is writing her second book, a novel.