Presented as the niece of actress Marion Davies, she was long suspected of being her natural daughter, fathered by publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst.

[2] Hearst never divorced from his wife, Millicent Willson, whom he married in 1903, but the couple maintained separate lives.

Many reference books say that Lake's parents were Marion Davies' sister Rose and her first husband, George Van Cleve.

[4] According to Magazine Americana, published by the Institute for the Study of American Popular Culture, after Rose and George Van Cleeve had separated, he kidnapped Patricia in 1924 and went into hiding.

[6] The Lake family asserts that when Patricia lived with the Van Cleeves, Hearst paid the bills and arranged for her education at schools in New York and Boston.

[7] Introduced as Marion Davies' niece, Lake socialized with such notables as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson.

[8] Lake's son said that hours before her death in 1993, she confirmed and asked her family to publish the identities of her biological parents.