# Pat Woodell
**Pat Woodell** (born Patricia Joy Woodell; 1944–2015) was an American actress and singer best known as the original Bobbie Jo Bradley on the CBS sitcom *Petticoat Junction*, a role she played for the show's first two seasons before leaving to pursue a singing career and later appearing in a series of 1970s exploitation films.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Patricia Joy Woodell; known as Patricia McDade off screen after her second marriage[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) |
| Born / died | 1944, Winthrop, Massachusetts; September 29, 2015, Fallbrook, California, at age 71[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) |
| Signature role | Bobbie Jo Bradley, the smart, studious Bradley sister, on *Petticoat Junction* (CBS, 1963–1965)[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) |
| Episodes | 70 episodes across the show's first two seasons, per the Television Academy; IMDb lists 74[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0940235/) |
| Replacement | Lori Saunders played Bobbie Jo for the remaining four seasons, 1965–1970[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell) |
| Films | *The Big Doll House* (1971), *The Woman Hunt* (1972), *The Twilight People* (1972), *Class of '74* (1972), *The Roommates* (1973)[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell) |
| Later career | Worked for Werner Erhard's est organization, then co-founded a business consulting firm, retiring in 2013[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) |
## Early life and start in show business
Woodell was born in 1944 in Winthrop, Massachusetts. Her first ambition was singing: as a teenager in the 1950s she performed at hotels in the [Catskill Mountains](https://www.edgepedia.org/catskill-mountains) resort region, and in 1962 the gossip columnist Harrison Carroll wrote, "Everybody wants to hear 18-year-old singer Pat Woodell."[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html)
She was signed to a contract by Warner Bros., and her first network television credit came on a 1962 episode of the western series *Cheyenne*. Guest appearances followed on *Hawaiian Eye* and *77 Sunset Strip*, and she had a role in *Red Nightmare*, a government-sponsored anti-communism drama narrated by [Jack Webb](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-webb).[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html)
## Petticoat Junction
*Petticoat Junction*, created by Paul Henning, who also developed CBS's rural comedies *The Beverly Hillbillies* and *Green Acres*, debuted in 1963. It was set at the Shady Rest Hotel near the fictional town of Hooterville and centered on the three teenage daughters of widow Kate Bradley, played by [Bea Benaderet](https://www.edgepedia.org/bea-benaderet), as they helped run the hotel.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell) • [1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html)
Woodell played Bobbie Jo, described in obituaries as the smart, studious daughter, opposite [Linda Kaye Henning](https://www.edgepedia.org/linda-kaye-henning) as tomboy Betty Jo and [Jeannine Riley](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeannine-riley) as boy-crazy Billie Jo. She appeared in 70 episodes over the show's first two seasons, from 1963 to 1965.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell) One of her better-remembered episodes had Bobbie Jo falling for a traveling beatnik played by [Dennis Hopper](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-hopper), whose angry verse insults the townspeople before her mother helps her see he is more unstable than artistic.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html)
**Singing on and off the show.** Woodell sang in some episodes and performed with her on-screen sisters, joined by actress [Sheila Kuehl](https://www.edgepedia.org/sheila-kuehl), in the Ladybugs, a Beatles-parody vocal group that appeared on *The Ed Sullivan Show* in 1964.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html)
She left the series after the second season. Her husband told the Los Angeles Times she wanted to return to singing; the Times obituary also says she had grown tired of playing Bobbie Jo. [Lori Saunders](https://www.edgepedia.org/lori-saunders) took over the role for the remaining four seasons, and the show ran until April 1970.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell)
## After the sitcom
Her singing career did not take off, though she had some success touring with comedian [Jack Benny](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-benny) and recorded an album. Through the late 1960s she made guest appearances on shows including *The Munsters*, *G.E. True*, and *Bright Promise*, and in 1968 she voiced the character Bunny, opposite [Mel Blanc](https://www.edgepedia.org/mel-blanc)'s Claude, in two [Looney Tunes](https://www.edgepedia.org/looney-tunes) shorts released in 1969.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell)
In the early 1970s she moved into low-budget exploitation films built on nudity and violence. The best known was the 1971 women's-prison film *The Big Doll House*, co-starring [Pam Grier](https://www.edgepedia.org/pam-grier); she also appeared in *The Woman Hunt*, *The Twilight People*, *Class of '74*, and *The Roommates*. "I have no delusions about this movie," she said of *The Big Doll House* in a 1971 [Chicago Tribune](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-tribune) interview, but she did not break into mainstream film.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell)
**Retirement from acting.** In 1973, after a guest role on *The New Perry Mason* in the episode "The Case of the Murdered Murderer," she gave up acting at age 29. She had attended a seminar developed by [Werner Erhard](https://www.edgepedia.org/werner-erhard), whose est human-potential programs were then widespread, and went to work for his organization. She later co-founded a business consulting firm and retired from it in 2013. She never returned to acting, though she appeared in documentaries about her *Petticoat Junction* years.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) • [4](https://mortystv.com/2015/10/12/pat-woodell-71-dies-one-of-the-original-petticoat-junction-girls/)
## Personal life and death
Woodell married the actor and writer Gary Clarke in 1964; the marriage ended in divorce in 1977. In 1978 she married Robert Vern McDade, to whom she was wed until her death.[5](https://www.nndb.com/people/964/000400761/) • [4](https://mortystv.com/2015/10/12/pat-woodell-71-dies-one-of-the-original-petticoat-junction-girls/)
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in the 1990s and lived with the disease for more than 20 years. She died on September 29, 2015, at her home in [Fallbrook, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/fallbrook-california), at age 71, and was survived by her husband and her stepfather, Joe Saveriano.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html) • [6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/pat-woodell/)
## References
1. [Pat Woodell dies at 71; actress best known for 1960s sitcom 'Petticoat Junction', Los Angeles Times (David Colker, Oct. 17, 2015)](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-pat-woodell-20151018-story.html)
2. [Pat Woodell, Television Academy bio](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/pat-woodell)
3. [Pat Woodell, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0940235/)
4. [Pat Woodell, 71, Dies; One of the Original Petticoat Junction Girls, Morty's TV](https://mortystv.com/2015/10/12/pat-woodell-71-dies-one-of-the-original-petticoat-junction-girls/)
5. [Pat Woodell, NNDB](https://www.nndb.com/people/964/000400761/)
6. [Pat Woodell, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/pat-woodell/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames Su to W*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license