For half a century she created a credible body of cinematic work, her most memorable being as Sam Spade's assistant Effie in The Maltese Falcon (1941), and her reprise of the role in the George Segal comedy sequel The Black Bird (1975).

Her talents were showcased in comedies such as the Jack Benny film George Washington Slept Here (1942) and as one of the foils of Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame (1958).

Dramatic parts such as an asylum inmate in The Snake Pit (1948) and as Pamela Tiffin's mother in Summer and Smoke (1961) were another facet of her repertoire.

[5] In September 1924 she returned to Broadway in an 8-week run of The Green Beetle at the Klaw Theatre, portraying the lead characters' daughter who escaped a murder attempt.

[12] Patrick acted in three plays in 1927: the 12-performance comedy Baby Mine;[13] the equally brief The Matrimonial Bed;[14] and Nightstick,[15] an 84-performance run through January 1928.

[30] Patrick had the starring role in her first film, Strange Cargo, an early American sound production for Pathé released on March 31, 1929.

She had a bit part as a nurse in the film, which brought her together for the first time with Leo G. Carroll, with whom two decades later she worked on the television series Topper.

Patrick appeared in The Maltese Falcon (1941) as Effie Perine, the loyal and quick-thinking secretary of Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade.

Her final film role was a reprise of the character Effie Perine in The Black Bird, a spoof of the Maltese Falcon, starring George Segal as Sam Spade, Jr., who in the storyline was forced to continue his father's work and to keep his increasingly sarcastic secretary; the film attempted to turn its revered predecessor into a comedy.

She turned in a voice performance as Mrs. Frumpington in an episode of the animated series The Alvin Show, which may be heard on the soundtrack LP by David Seville and The Chipmunks.