Below are media mentions from The Kingston Daily Freeman, Kingston, New York, USA.
February 19, 1965
Source: The Internet Archive
Plagued by Misfortune
Patricia Neal Suffers Two Severe Strokes
by Gene Handsaker
Arriving from England last week, Oscar winner Patricia Neal looked radiantly well and spoke enthusiastically of the movie she was here to start.
Today she lies in the intensive care unit at the UCLA Medical Center, in critical condition after two strokes and emergency brain surgery.
Nearby were her husband, British mystery short-story writer Roald Dahl, and their three children, Tessa, 8; Theo, 5, and Ophelia, 8 months.
The first stroke — another in a series of misfortunes that have dogged the 39-year-old star’s career — occurred Wednesday night.
A few hours earlier the tall, willowy blonde with the large, sultry eyes and velvet voice had done her first big scene in “Seven Women.” She plays a woman doctor in the film, which John Ford is directing at MGM.
Undergoes Surgery
Rushed to the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center, she suffered a second stroke and was taken to surgery.
Late Thursday her surgeon, Dr. Charles Carton, issued a terse statement: “Mrs. Patricia Dahl was brought in last night with severe intracranial bleeding. Brain surgery was performed. Her condition remains critical.”
Miss Neal won her academy award as best actress last April for her performance as Paul Newman’s slatternly housekeeper in “Hud.”
Personal Misfortune
Friends said her ability to portray pathos and drama had been aided by real-life misfortunes — and the strength to withstand them.
One was an ill-fated romance with the late Gary Cooper, with whom she fell in love after they co-starred in “The Fountainhead.” The romance ended unhappily. Cooper remained married to his wife.
Another tragedy was the death of Olivia, eldest of her four children, from measles at the age of 7 in 1962.
And 5-year-old Theo has been under doctors’ care since he was 4 months old, when a taxi struck his baby buggy in New York. Much of the time since then he has been without sight.
After the accident Miss Neal, her husband and children moved to a large farmhouse at Great Missenden, 40 miles northwest of London.
A native of Packard, Ky., Miss Neal studied for two years at Northwestem University’s School of Drama.
In 1945 she went to New York with $60 and much determination and ambition.
Critics hailed her first leading role — in “Another Part of the Forest,” in 1946. It brought her the Antoinette Perry Award and the New York drama critics’ best-actress award.
A Warner Bros. film contract followed.
March 19, 1965
Source: The Internet Archive
Patricia Neal Is Very Cheerful, Husband Reveals
by Doris Klein
HOLLYWOOD (AP) – Actress Patricia Neal, her speech hobbled and her right side paralyzed by three massive strokes remained “very cheerful” today, although the life of her unborn child still hung in the balance, her husband said.
“She’s displayed tremendous courage — and has never been depressed,” said British mystery writer Roald Dahl. “She’s always joking now.”
Dahl, who brought his wife home from UCLA Medical Center Wednesday night, disclosed Thursday that she is five months pregnant.
“But we don’t know whether or not she’ll be able to have the baby,” he said. “We’ll have to evaluate the effect of the medication and X-ray treatment she’s received.”
The Academy Award-winning actress, 39, was stricken Feb. 17 while giving the oldest of her three children, Tessa, 8, a bath. She had just returned to their rented Pacific Palisades home after doing her first big scene in the film, “Seven Women.”
“She felt this terrible pain in her neck,” said Dahl, recounting the ordeal.
“She lost consciousness, but regained it on the way to the hospital. Thirty minutes later she suffered a second stroke.”
While she was being X-rayed and given other diagnostic tests, Miss Neal suffered a third stroke, her husband said.
“We didn’t know when she went into surgery whether she’d survive. Her chances seemed a little better when she came out of surgery alive.”
She remained in surgery seven hours, while doctors removed a blood clot and accumulated blood from massive hemorrhaging and clipped together the broken blood vessel in her brain, Dahl said.
“She was unconscious about 2 1/2 weeks,” said Dahl. “But gradually she began to come out of it.”
Friends have taken the care of the children, Ophelia, 10 months, Theo, 5, and Tessa, since their mother’s illness.
Dahl said his wife’s first words were halting.
“But within a year, she should be able to speak well again.” He said he hoped to take Miss Neal and the children back to their home in England in four to six weeks.