Patrick J. McNamara

Patrick J. McNamara – stage and film actor, theater director, voice and acting teacher, tournament poker player and native New Orleanian who over his long career worked with major Hollywood directors such as Steven Spielberg and Brian De Palma – died peacefully at Ochsner Hospital on January 2nd. He was 80.

Patrick attended De La Salle and UNO. He later graduated from The State University of New York (SUNY) and received an MFA from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He fell in love with acting as an undergraduate while appearing in numerous plays. His lead role in Macbeth at UNO started his lifelong love of Shakespeare. After a short stint at Tulane Law School, Patrick returned to his real passion, acting. In 1967 he moved to New York, joining Ellen Stewart’s La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, an innovative and avant-garde company now recognized as an American cultural institution. He studied voice with the renowned expert Arthur Lessac. Known himself for his deep, resonant voice, Patrick began teaching vocal technique at the National Academy of Drama in Carnegie Hall.

Patrick moved back to New Orleans to found Energy Theater, a professional Equity company housed at the iconic Prytania Theater. During this period, he landed his first film role, in De Palma’s Obsession, starring Cliff Robertson, John Lithgow and Geneviève Bujold. Next came Patrick’s life-changing role, co-starring in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A career of over forty years in film and television led Patrick to share scenes with many legendary actors, including Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Richard Dreyfuss, John Cassavetes and John Travolta. When Patrick worked with Kirk Douglas in The Fury, directed by De Palma, Douglas asked Patrick for advice about a vocal problem. This led to a memorable three-hour walk on a beach in Caesarea, Israel, where Patrick gave Douglas suggestions. One of Patrick’s fondest memories was working with Henry Fonda in the made-for-television movie Gideon’s Trumpet, about a landmark Supreme Court case involving the right to counsel. As Patrick saw it, Fonda was “truth”, and looking into Fonda’s eyes during their courtroom scene was a stunning and unforgettable experience.

Apart from Close Encounters, Patrick was best known for his role as Bill S. Preston’s father in the 1980s motion-picture comedies Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. He also guest-starred on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Avid fans of that show never stopped sending him requests for 8x10 photos and autographs.

Though his film and stage roles took him to New York and Los Angeles for extended stays and he starred in regional theater around the country, Patrick always considered New Orleans his home. In 1996 he returned there permanently. Over the years he appeared on stage with the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane, Le Petit Theatre, Southern Rep, Energy Theater, UNO, Gallery Circle and Le Chat Noir, among other venues. He met his wife, producer Carol Stone, while appearing in an adaptation of Christine Wiltz’s book The Last Madam for All Kinds of Theatre. Locally, he taught acting at NOCCA, Tulane and Loyola, where his students referred to him as Mac.

In 2009, in an effort to offer lessons from his years of experience, Patrick produced the popular DVD, “The Craft of Film Acting,” a succinct guide to the transition from stage to film.

"Patrick was a Renaissance man,” said Amanda McBroom, close friend, singer, songwriter (“The Rose”) and actor at Energy Theatre. "He was funny, adventurous, charismatic, with a magical spirit, unbounded imagination and a twinkle in his eye.”

After retiring from acting, Patrick turned his focus and energy to tournament poker. He played regularly at the Harrah’s poker room and greatly enjoyed the wide variety of friends he met there. In addition to his exploits at the casino in New Orleans, Patrick competed successfully in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, playing against some of the world’s best-known players. He had read the books on poker by many of his opponents. In one tournament, he got a special kick from taking out the famous Amarillo Slim.

His brother-in-law, Harvey Stone, said, “Patrick was his own man, driven by passionate interests, drawn to hard challenges, a risk taker, never a conformist. Passion and risk explain his life as an actor and his extraordinary success in competitive poker at high levels.”

Patrick was also a master woodworker, an ardent golfer and chef. He pursued all his hobbies with passion and intense focus. He was known among friends and family as a raconteur and prolific joke teller. For added perspective on his personality and achievements, see the interview, “Poker Faces in the Crowd: J. Patrick McNamara”; and the feature obit in the Times-Picayune by John Pope.

Thanks to A.J. Allegra, Marty Sachs and the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane for dedicating the upcoming production of Twelfth Night in memory of Patrick.

A private Celebration of Life will take place on February 25.

Patrick was preceded in death by his parents, Henry Dansereau McNamara and Ruby Price McNamara; sister, Sally McNamara Reynolds; brothers, Henry Danserau McNamara, Jr., and U.S. District Court Judge Abel John “Buddy” McNamara. Patrick is survived by his wife, Carol Stone; sons, Sean Patrick Reif (Tina) and Brendan Buchanan McNamara (Casey); stepdaughter, Laura Ann Wright Leenaars (Erik); and grandchildren Arianne Reif, Sloan McNamara, and Luca and Margot Leenaars.

To view and sign the online guest book, please visit www.lakelawnmetairie.com