Melody Patterson

Melody Patterson
April 16, 1949 – August 20, 2015

Melody Patterson died in a nursing home on August 20, 2015, at age 66. Multiple organ failure was the reported cause. The Actress was best actress known for her role as Wrangler Jane in the 1960s TV series F Troop. She was 16 years old when she first appeared on the show.

"Wrangler" Jane Angelica Thrift  – Captain Wilton Parmenter's beautiful but tomboyish, feisty, romantically aggressive girlfriend, dressed in buckskins and a cowgirl hat. She owns Wrangler Jane's Trading Post and runs the U.S. post office in town. She is a telegrapher and the best sharpshooter in the territory. Whenever the fort is attacked she fights alongside everyone else usually shooting more Indians than everyone else. She is determined to marry the ever romantically elusive and naïve Parmenter and is often obliged to rescue him from his various predicaments. When she kisses the very bashful Parmenter he usually says "Please Jane, not in front of the men". In "The Sergeant and the Kid" she replied back "But there're no men here" to which he replied "Well then, not in front of me". As part of this running gag, in the same episode after Jane mistakenly kisses Agarn, he says "Please Jane, not in front of the Captain." While Parmenter is reticent about showing any overt interest in Jane he does become quite jealous if another man shows any interest in her. However, in "Marriage, Fort Courage Style" (one of the last episodes in the series), Parmenter finally shows a direct interest in Jane. He sets a date three months hence as the beginning of their engagement to be married (Parmenter explains the reason he has hesitated to marry Jane is that the Parmenters as military men are rather hard on their wives). 

In the 1970s, Patterson was married to the actor James MacArthur, who was known for the role of Dan "Danno" Williams in the TV series Hawaii Five-O. During their marriage, she had to put her career aside to move to Honolulu, Hawaii. During the next seven years she appeared in three episodes of Hawaii Five-O, and started modeling and making commercials. While living in Hawaii she found herself again on the stage in the Herb Rogers production of Butterflies Are Free, with Barbara Rush and Dirk Benedict. After that she appeared in other plays such as House of Blue Leaves, for the University of Hawaii, and played the part of Peggy in The Front Page written by Charles MacArthur, and directed by her husband James MacArthur. Before leaving Hawaii, she played the title role in the Strindberg classic, Miss Julie, for the Honolulu Performing Arts Company.

Good Night Wrangler

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Tony Figueroa