(16.9.1930 – 19.1.2026)
Australian born actress Patsy King, best remembered for her principal role as “Governor Erica Davidson” in the iconic television series Prisoner, passed away on Monday 19th January 2026 after a short illness. She was 95 years old.
Patsy studied acting at Melbourne’s National Theatre and made her professional stage debut in 1951, playing the juvenile lead in various stage productions. In the late 50’s she progressed to support and lead roles with major theatre companies including Melbourne Theatre Company, St Martins and Playbox, co-starring with renowned actors such as Frank Thring and Barry Humphries. Proving her versatility as an actress, over the years she performed in everything from new Australian plays to the classics and from drama to farce. Patsy’s theatrical highlights include playing “Bubba” in Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, which toured Australia and New Zealand, “Wendy” in Peter Pan, a leading role in the Australian premiere of the musical Half A Sixpence, Farewell Brisbane Ladies and the role of “Agnes” in The Fourposter for which she received the 1963 Erik Award for Best Actress.
She also worked extensively in radio for the ABC and commercial stations in a variety of forms – plays, poetry readings, children’s shows and long running serials.
Patsy regularly appeared on television in guest and leading roles for ABC TV and Crawford Productions (Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police, The Box) amongst others and was one of the original presenters on Play School. Other screen credits include Power Without Glory, The Sullivans and The Rivals. But it was as “Governor Erica Davidson” that she became known to fans around the world due to the international success of the cult classic television series Prisoner (known in UK & USA as Prisoner: Cell Block H and in Canada as Caged Women) in which she appeared in 351 episodes.
In 1989 British producer John Farrow invited Patsy to recreate her role of “Erica” in the West End stage production of Prisoner: Cell Block H. It played to sold out houses and then had a very successful tour around the UK.
As an advocate for Australian content on our screens, Patsy was the lone female delegate amongst a group of actors from the TV: Make it Australian campaign, who travelled to Canberra in 1970 and was one of the first to successfully negotiate for local content quotas.
In 1959 Patsy married John Sumner, Melbourne Theatre Company founder and artistic director; they were married for 8 years. For many years she was active Anglican volunteer at St John’s Toorak church and St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. Apart from her career, one of the personal highlights of Patsy’s long life was being presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace during a visit to the UK in 1953-54.
Always interested in nurturing new talent, Patsy was instrumental in establishing a Children’s Theatre at Monash University and was also a committee member and director with Melbourne Writers’ Theatre at Carlton’s Courthouse Theatre.
She is survived by her sister Valerie Logada.
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