Australian actress Patsy King, who played prison governor Erica Davidson on TV’s Prisoner: Cell Block H, died on Jan. 19. She was 95. King was also a mainstay onstage, appearing in such plays as Victoria Regina, The Miser, Blithe Spirit, Absurd Person Singular, Half a Sixpence, Love Letters, The Four Poster, and just about everything that Shakespeare ever wrote. Besides her five-year run in Prisoner, King costarred in such series as Homicide, The Box, and the soap Bellbird; she was also seen in the kids’ shows Play School, The Magic Circle Club, and Adventure Island. She was married (from 1959-67) to John Sumner, founder and artistic director of the Melbourne National Theatre. Of her Erica Davidson character, King said that “1 love playing the baddie. I keep pleading with the scriptwriters to give Erica more nasty things to do. The minute I read the part, I knew it was for me.”
