obituaries

Melody Patterson of 'F Troop' passes away at age 66

August 24, 2015, 8:52AM By MeTV Staff

On Friday evening, Larry Storch, the comedian who played Cpl. Agarn on the 1960s sitcom F Troop, delivered sad news via his Facebook page. The 92-year-old actor announced that his F Troop costar Melody Patterson had died earlier that day at the age of 66.

Simple math will tell you that Patterson was quite young for a sitcom star in 1965. The Californian was just 15 years old when she auditioned for the role of Wrangler Jane. (For more fascinating facts about F Troop, check out our story from last week.) But the time the cameras started rolling in Fort Courage, the actress was 16. The precocious talent held her own in a cast loaded with comedic talent like Storch, Ken Berry and Forrest Tucker, not to mention guest stars like Don Rickles and Harvey Korman.

After F Troop, Patterson married television actor James MacArthur, best known as "Danno" on Hawaii Five-O, and moved to the Aloha State.

Patterson died in a nursing home from organ failure, according to reports in Variety.

Storch has continued to post heartwarming tributes to his former colleague, such as the following:

As many know Melody was a minor when cast on F Troop. Until her casting it was pretty much a boys club. Her first day on set the 'suits' as Larry recalls them (the higher ups at Warner Bros) came down and said "alright boys. We have a new girl with us, shes only a child, so no more four letter words!" Larry was shocked she was so young but also very impressed at how she always handled herself around 'the boys'.

See Patterson work her charm on F Troop next weekend on MeTV, Saturday at 5AM | 4C and Sunday at 6AM | 5C.