- Born
- Died
- Birth nameElmer Calvin Patterson
- Hank Patterson was born in Springville, Alabama to Green and Mary Newton Patterson. Hank's great-grandfather, James Pearson, was an original settler of St. Clair County, AL as was his mother's great-grandfather, Thomas Newton. Between 1894 & 1897, the family left AL to live in Taylor, Texas, where Hank attempted to work as a serious musician, only to settle for playing piano in traveling vaudeville shows. He worked his way out to California in the 1920s and here began his film career followed by long runs on two television series Gunsmoke (1955) and Green Acres (1965).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denis Sherman<stidumsherman@yahoo.com>
- SpouseDaisy Marguerite Sheeler(May 18, 1915 - August 23, 1975) (his death)
- RelativesTéa Leoni(Niece or Nephew)
- By the time Patterson was doing Green Acres (1965) he was in his late 70s and almost completely deaf, but the producers loved his portrayal so much they worked around his hearing impairment by having the dialogue coach lying on the floor, out-of-shot, tapping Hank's leg with a yardstick as a cue to speak his line.
- Great-uncle of Téa Leoni
- He played the same character (Fred Ziffel) in three different series: The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Petticoat Junction (1963) and Green Acres (1965).
- He appeared in two 1950s science-fiction films that involved giant spiders: Tarantula (1955) and The Spider (1958).
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