Pat Colbert/Dora Mae Has Died.

[Billy Wall]

If anyone knows how to post an article, feel free. The Hollywood Reporter has a very good write up on her career. She was 77.

RIP

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Pat Colbert Dead: Dora Mae on ‘Dallas’ Was 77 (hollywoodreporter.com)

Pat Colbert, Oil Baron’s Club Host Dora Mae on ‘Dallas,’ Dies at 77​

She also recurred on ‘Flamingo Road,’ another soap from Lorimar Productions, and starred opposite Bill Cosby in ‘Leonard Part 6.’

BY MIKE BARNES

Pat Colbert, who portrayed the stylish Oil Baron’s Club host and manager Dora Mae on the final eight seasons of the CBS primetime soap Dallas, has died. She was 77.

Colbert died June 23 at her home in Compton, her sister Tami Colbert told The Hollywood Reporter. She had suffered three strokes over the past decade.

Colbert also played the wife of Bill Cosby’s character in the lamentable 1987 spy spoof Leonard Part 6 (1987) and showed up on episodes of Benson, The Fall Guy, Sisters and True Colors.

In 1980-81, Colbert was one of the working girls in the roadhouse run by Stella Stevens‘ Lute-Mae Sanders on the NBC primetime soap Flamingo Road, which like Dallas came from Lorimar Productions.

She appeared in the two-hour pilot and recurred throughout the first season, but her character was eliminated in season two when the network — pressured by Rev. Donald Wildmon, who as head of Coalition for Better Television called Flamingo Road “the rottenest show on TV” — turned the brothel into a respectable supper club.

Lorimar, however, would put Colbert back to work, and she would appear on 67 episodes of Dallas from 1983-91 — starting with an uncredited role in season six — as the host of the Oil Baron’s Club, an upscale restaurant located in a high-rise that was a favorite hangout of the Ewing family and their associates. (The place was inspired by the real-life, members-only Dallas Petroleum Club.)

As the only recurring African American character on the series, Dora Mae never had a storyline, because Dallas never tried to pretend to be anything more than the saga of the Ewing family, but she played the role with elegance and intelligence,” Shaun Chang of the movie and TV blog Hill Place told THR.

“The leading characters, and the show itself, treated her with respect and without any sense of condescension. Dallas had many recurring supporting characters who helped create a sense of community for a show set in a major city, and Dora Mae was part of the fabric of the series.”

Sandra Patricia Colbert was born in Los Angeles on Jan. 16, 1947. Her father, LeRoy, was in construction — he built the home that the family would live in — and her mother, Eula, was a homemaker who also worked in foster care.

Colbert attended Centennial High School in Compton and then junior college and worked as a model for department-store print campaigns and as a fashion consultant before she became an actress.

Her résumé also included a turn as a nurse in Blake Edwards’ S.O.B. (1981) and work on Capitol, the Dallas spinoff Knots Landing, Thom & Dusty Go to Mexico: The Lost Treasure (2014) and If Not for His Grace (2015).

In addition to her sister, survivors include her other siblings, Aaron and Johnetta, and her son, Michael.

Dallas Fanzine | Dallasfanzine is sad to report the passing of Pat Colbert, who played hostess and queen of the Oil Barons Club, Dora Mae for eight seasons… | Instagram

 

[Garry]

 

[Monzo]

It's always sad to hear that the last years of living of an actor you liked were so difficult. It's a shame that Pat Colbert had to go through such a rough time.

I always enjoyed watching Dora Mae on Dallas and although the article says she was on Knots Landing and Flamingo Road, I unfortunately don't remember her appearances there.

 

[Rove]

How I wish Dallas expanded her role just a little bit further.

R.I.P.​

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

How I wish Dallas expanded her role just a little bit further.

R.I.P.​

Like Holly Harwood's secretary, Elliot, I enjoyed it whenever Dora Mae quietly sneered her disapproval at the gaucheries of the occasional customer.

 

[Toni]

My favorite scene with her is when she calls Mark to tell her that a b*tch on wheels (Katherine) is making herself a fool all drunk and disheveled ("Love Stories", Season 7 dvd)...and the latter spills the beans on Pam knowing his sickness. It always cracked me up that Dora Mae seemed to have all the relationships tree figured up in her Oil Barons Club phone book: who was whose sibling and who was sleeping with whom. Too bad she didn´t tell April the first time she went that "cheap whores are not allowed here, so beat it".

Pure class.​

She was a very elegant, classy lady who should have had a little of respect from the Lorimar honchos and received some kind of subplot once in awhile (like the secretaries, and even Barbie Kendall!). Funny but all of these actresses who sort of were "atmosphere" in the show turned out to be a lot more interesting in their real lives, including late Roseanna Christiansen too. They didn´t need "Dallas" but the show certainly did need them. RIP Pat Colbert.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

She was a very elegant, classy lady who should have had a little of respect from the Lorimar honchos and received some kind of subplot once in awhile

I always want Lucy and Afton to buy the Oil Baron's Club in the latter seasons, with the intention of eavesdropping on the mostly-male business conversations. Naturally, Dora Mae is retained as the hostess. The three ladies engage in the occasional whispery trialogue about who-says-what and whom-did-what-to-whom or who's-planning-to.

All in a discreet, elegant, classy way, of course.

 

[Michelle Stevens]

It's very sad to hear of Pat Colbert's passing. She brought such class to her role, as limited as it was. I wish we would have heard more from her over the years about her time on Dallas.

 

[Barbara Fan]

Sorry to hear the sad news, RIP Pat Colbert

She had fabulous cheek bones and bone structure

For a long time I always thought her name was Dor - Meh on Dallas, until i read an article atnd it said Dora Mae

 

[Jock Og]

I'm sorry to hear about Pat's death. The poor woman had been through a lot. Dora Mae was the hostess with the mostest. Eternal rest!

Franklin Horner, Dora Mae and J.R.

 

[xab]

Sad...

I only hope Pat Colbert, or Roseanna Christiansen and so many other actors/tresses knew they were so much more than just supporting characters to us, fans. We know their names and will never forget them. Years after years we never did.

Dora-Mae, Jackie, Teresa... You belong to the core of Dallas. Forever.

 

[Daniel Avery]

lthough the article says she was on Knots Landing and Flamingo Road, I unfortunately don't remember her appearances there.

She appeared as a reporter in the Knots Landing S5 opener, "The People Vs. Gary Ewing". Since that episode featured a gaggle of reporters trying to cover Gary's sensational trial, her featured role was easy to miss among all the shouting and wobbly cameras.

 

[Rove]

She brought such class to her role, as limited as it was.

The writers could have easily expanded her role by having JR or Bobby staying late at the Oil Baron's Club with Dora Mae used as a sound board for Ewing troubles. Done with dignity her character could have been elevated to someone you respected.

Though limited as her role was I hope Pat enjoyed her time on Dallas and she will be forever remembered as being part of television history.

 

[Angela Channing]

Sad news. Dora Mae at times was the only black character to feature prominently in Dallas and even though she was never given a significant storyline, her presence in the show was important. Reading obituaries in the papers, it was interesting to discover she had a more notable career beyond Dallas than I had realised.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Sad news. Dora Mae at times was the only black character to feature prominently in Dallas and even though she was never given a significant storyline, her presence in the show was important. Reading obituaries in the papers, it was interesting to discover she had a more notable career beyond Dallas than I had realised.

When Diahann Carroll was shopping herself around the nighttime soaps in 1984, she said one of the producers from one of the shows said that there would never be a black person on their show (presumably, meaning other than the occasional servant).

Gee. Wonder which producer that was?

 

[Karin]

My sympathies to her family and friends and co-stars.

I think it was great how they kept using the same minor characters on Dallas. It added a bit of realism to the show.
I also remember my uncle once asked me if the show had any african american people and Dora Mae came to mind.

 

[southfork88]

Sad news.​

​

And ... Knots Landing star Doug Sheehan (Ben Gibson, married to Valene) dies at 75.​

R.I.P.​