Angela Paton

Acting

Angela Paton

Born 1930-01-11 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Angela Paton was an American stage, film, and television actress and theatre director. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1930. Described as a "natural comic" and one of the "legends of the local stage" of San Francisco, she was a veteran of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and one of A.C.T.'s leading actresses in its first few seasons. After leaving A.C.T. in the early 1970s, Paton and her husband founded and ran the Berkeley Stage Company for a number of years. She appeared in 38 films and over 50 TV series. Some of her notable film roles include Mrs. Lancaster, the innkeeper, in Groundhog Day (1993) and Grandma in American Wedding (2003). She also had recurring roles on the television shows Thirtysomething (1987-1991), My Name is Earl (2005-2009), and The War at Home (2005-2007). Paton was a respected figure in the Bay Area theater community, and she was awarded the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1987 for her performance in the play "The Beauty Queen of Leenane." She was also a member of the Actors' Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. Paton died in Oakland, California, in 2016, at the age of 86.

Acting credits

Lolita poster
7.1

Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.

Lolita

1997

Groundhog Day poster
7.6

A cynical TV weatherman, along with his idealistic producer and his sardonic cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.

Groundhog Day

1993

Dirty Harry poster
7.5

When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath.

Dirty Harry

1971

Red Eye poster
6.4

An overnight flight to Miami quickly becomes a battle for survival when Lisa realizes her seatmate plans to use her as part of a chilling assassination plot against the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. If she refuses to cooperate, her own father will be killed. As the miles tick by, she's in a race against time to find a way to warn the potential victims before it's too late.

Red Eye

2005

American Wedding poster
6.2

With high school a distant memory, Jim and Michelle are getting married — and in a hurry, since Jim's grandmother is sick and wants to see him walk down the aisle — prompting Stifler to throw the ultimate bachelor party. And Jim's dad is reliable as ever, doling out advice no one wants to hear.

American Wedding

2003

Flatliners poster
6.5

Five medical students experiment with "near death" experiences, until the dark consequences of past tragedies begin to jeopardize their lives.

Flatliners

1990

Joe Dirt poster
5.7

Joe Dirt is a janitor with a mullet hairdo, acid-washed jeans and a dream to find the parents that he lost at the Grand Canyon when he was a belligerent, trailer park-raised eight-year-old. Now, blasting Van Halen in his jacked-up economy car, the irrepressibly optimistic Joe hits the road alone in search of his folks.

Joe Dirt

2001

Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael poster
6.2

Movie star Roxy Carmichael is abandoning the bright lights of Hollywood, Calif. and returning to her small Ohio hometown -- at least long enough to dedicate a city building. And now the whole town of Clyde is bracing for Carmichael's return, most of all her now-married old flame Denton Webb and troubled teen Dinky Bossetti. An orphan with few friends, Dinky is convinced that Carmichael is her birth mother, and that the actress will reclaim her when she returns.

Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael

1990

The Wedding Singer poster
6.8

Robbie, a local rock star turned wedding singer, is dumped on the day of his wedding. Meanwhile, waitress Julia finally sets a wedding date with her fiancée Glenn. When Julia and Robbie meet and hit it off, they find that things are more complicated than anybody thought.

The Wedding Singer

1998

The United States of Leland poster
6.5

A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.

The United States of Leland

2003

And the Band Played On poster
6.4

The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.

And the Band Played On

1993

Clean Slate poster
5.8

Pogue is a private eye with a problem: every morning when he wakes up, he has total amnesia, waking up with a 'blank slate'. Since he is in the middle of a hot investigation and has a developing romance, this is less than convenient.

Clean Slate

1994

Home for the Holidays poster
6.3

After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson faces spending the holiday with her unhinged family.

Home for the Holidays

1995

Trapped in Paradise poster
5.6

Residents of a friendly Pennsylvania town foil three brothers' plan to rob a bank on Christmas Eve.

Trapped in Paradise

1994

Blue Sky poster
6.1

Hank Marshall is a tough, square-jawed, straitlaced Army engineer and nuclear science expert, assigned to help conduct weapons testing in 1950s America. Hank has become a thorn in the side of the Army, though, for a couple of very different reasons. He is an outspoken opponent of atmospheric testing, though his superiors hold contrary views and want to squelch his concerns...and his reports. The other problem is his wife, Carly. She is voluptuous and volatile, wreaking havoc in his personal life and stirring up intrigue at each new Army base.

Blue Sky

1994

Die, Mommie, Die! poster
6.6

Angela Arden is a washed up, has-been singing star who is trapped in a hateful marriage to film producer Sol Sussman. In an attempt to escape her marriage so that she can be with a hunky layabout, she poisons her husband. However, Angela's manipulative daughter, gay son and alcoholic maid are not going to make it easy for her.

Die, Mommie, Die!

2003

The Valley of Light poster
6.5

The Valley of Light is a beautifully-filmed, sentimental movie of a young man's quest to make sense of his experiences and find new meaning in life. While this film deals with weighty material such as the suicide of Eleanor's husband and Mathew's untimely death, the content is handled with reverence and sensitivity. Parents can feel confident in sharing this and many other Hallmark films with their families.

The Valley of Light

2007

The Final Season poster
5.4

True story of Kent Stock, who in the early '90s gives up a job and ditches his wedding plans to take over as head coach of the Norway High School baseball team. Kent must win over his players and convince them and himself that he can fill their former coach's shoes and that they can go out winners. In the summer of 1991 Norway High's baseball tradition ended on a triumphant but sombre note.

The Final Season

2007

The Last of His Tribe poster
7.0

Ishi, the last Yahi Indian of California, must leave his homeland and learn to navigate the world of the white man in order to survive.

The Last of His Tribe

1992

Roe vs. Wade poster
6.0

Holly Hunter plays a lonely, single, poorly educated Texan who finds herself pregnant with no means to support a child. To avoid giving up the child, she seeks an abortion. Denied an abortion in Texas the young woman hires a novice lawyer to plead her case in the US supreme court. Eventually the law is changed, but for the character it takes longer than nine months.

Roe vs. Wade

1989

Lies of the Twins poster
4.5

An ex-model is seduced into danger by her psychotherapist boyfriend's wicked identical twin.

Lies of the Twins

1991

Where Are My Children? poster
5.9

Based upon a true story, Marg Helgenberger stars as a single mother mysteriously arrested by the FBI and separated from her children, thus beginning a 25-year struggle to be reunited with them.

Where Are My Children?

1994

The Joyriders poster
4.8

The close-knit relationship among a trio of homeless teenagers is changed forever after they kidnap a suicidal septuagenarian for his car and money.

The Joyriders

1999

The Con poster
5.5

A lonely gas station attendent in Mississippi falls in love with a con woman who wants to get her hands on an inheritance he doesn't know about.

The Con

1998

Behind the camera