Pat Loud (An American Family) Has Died

Did she die with a whimper?

She was survived by her children, Kevin, Delilah, Michele and Grant.

Lance Loud died in 2001

Probably the first "reality" TV show, done as only PBS could do it.

Lance was the gay one and punk rocker.

I wish the whole series was available on DVD. All we can get now is highlights.

[bold]WHO??? WHAT???[/bold]

[quote]Did she die with a whimper?

No, a loud bang.

The 2011 HBO film Cinema Verite was a fictionalized account of the production of An American Family.

Diane Lane played Pat. Tim Robbins played her then husband Bill, and Thomas Dekker was Lance.

The Facebook announcement:

With inconsolable sorrow, we are sad to share the news with friends and family that on Sunday January 10 at 1:55pm PT, Pat Loud passed away peacefully in her sleep of natural causes. She was snuggled up safe in her comfy home, attended by loving children Michele, Delilah, Kevin and Grant.

Born in Eugene, Oregon, Patricia was the beloved daughter of Thomas Osmond and Myrle Lill Russell, who – the story goes – were also responsible for introducing one Alanson Robert Loud to a certain B. Bertha Carberry, also of Eugene. That marriage later produced three children including Pat’s future husband, William Carberry Loud. Cool, huh?

After graduating from Stanford University in 1948 where she pursued her lifelong interests in World History and English Literature, she returned to her hometown where she met and fell in love with Bill Loud. They married in Mexico City, and first son – Alanson “Lance” Russell Loud - was born in June 1951.

Four more children, a move to Santa Barbara, and a famously televised divorce later, Pat’s brilliant second act was only getting started. A flat on New York’s Upper East Side and a new career in the book biz was followed by a relocation to England’s favorite Roman spa town Bath in the 1980s. But wherever she was, an invitation to her table meant an unforgettable evening of great food, generous drinks and convivial company.

When eldest son Lance was diagnosed as HIV+, she returned to Los Angeles, where she became an indefatigable advocate for his health through the 1990s.

Pat Loud was a fierce, inflexible, forthright matriarch and loyal champion of outsiders and iconoclasts. Her door was never locked and there was always room at her table. Never one for regrets or reflection, she moved forward in life with enthusiasm and courage. A letter from her often closed simply, “Excelsior!”

She loved books, the NYT paper and crossword, legends of the Knights Templar, Billie Holiday, Kurt Weil, Harry Nilsson, and of course, The Mumps.

Lance passed away from complications due to Hepatitis C in 2001. Bill Loud died in 2018, also of natural causes, after spending the previous 17 years in the house he shared with Pat. Long story. Having grown up through the Depression and WW II, Bill and Pat were both unique, vibrant, creative, and independent people. Anyone who knew them understands that Lance did not just magically appear out of nowhere. Pat is survived by Kevin Robert, Grant Randolph, Delilah Ann and Michele Summers Loud. She was 94.

In lieu of flowers, the family is grateful for any donations to be made in her name to The Rescue Train at therescuetrain.org.

But…you know what she’d really like? Throw something delicious in the oven and let the aroma fill the house. At the stroke of 5pm, gather friends and family around a tray of savory treats. Fill a glass with ice and – if you really want to do it right – everyone take one, VERY LARGE vodka. Maybe (definitely) two. Then sit down to dinner at a crowded table. Tell stories, put music on, laugh, and make a lot of noise. Have seconds, clean plates. And love each other.

She’d love that.

Patricia Claire Russell Loud 10/04/26 – 01/10/21

I'll always love her outfit lounging around the Chelsea Hotel.

She seemed like a great lady. I don't understand why she got as much criticism as she did. And her husband, although a cheater, seemed pretty cool too.

She was the ultimate upper middle-class 70s housewife, doing nothing but drinking and smoking all day and ignoring her kids.

[quote]A flat on New York’s Upper East Side

Seriously? She was born in Eugene, not Oxford.

After the series was over, she wrote an autobiography.

After the marriage ended, she became a literary agent in NYC representing among others, actress Ruth Warwick and Andrew Holloran (Dancer from the Dance).

She was so fabulous. It was like she embodied the post-war Establishment condition in the Seventies: all this incredible affluence, and all it bought was family unhappiness and confusion.

It's almost impossible for me to forget the episode where she goes to visit a newly out Lance in his walk-up hovel in NYC, which ends with the devastating shot of her walking down his apartment building's dark staircase.

Sorry, that should be Andrew Holleran

God I loved her. I watched the show when it first aired and I thought she was the coolest mom. And she was. Not some fake huggy kissy mom but a real force of nature who clearly loved her kids. RIP Pat.

I liked Pat Loud. Age 94 is a pretty good run. It's a shame she lost her son Lance 20 years ago,

Lance had a 20-year crystal meth addiction.

Albert Brooks did a great satire of An American Life called Real Life. It still holds up.

I was in high school when An American Family was airing, it was thrilling and exciting and groundbreaking to have an out gay somebody to watch on TV

Lance was cute, and he could be enormously charming; but he had some sort of personality order--either narcissistic personality disorder, or histrionic personality disorder. He said on The Dick Cavett Show that he was "edited" to appear abrasive and obnoxious, but every account of him I've ever read said that he was absolutely desperate for attention in every social circumstance. His parents adored him, though.

He figures into the end of "Edie" by Jean Stein--he became friends with Edie Sedgwick when she returned to her family ranch in Santa Barbara near the end of her life.

I watched the series when it came out. It was absolutely fascinating. The fashions and décor was pure 70s. I was about 20 at the time and my house and mother were similarly festooned.

I'll never forget when she asked her husband for a divorce on TV. He was a businessman who travelled frequently and he cheated. Her sister or brother-in-law and their spouse (can't remember exactly who) awkwardly scolded her for doing that on camera. They were not TV naturals. Mrs. Loud looked great in her summer dresses and tan, they were living the CA dream in Santa Barbara.

It showed the unraveling of an American family just as it was happening in households across the country after the changes and upheavals on the 1960s..

Did they all keep the nose in the divorce?

I wonder if she was happy with Bill for the 17 years between Lance's death and hers, or did she just give in because it was a deathbed promise to Lance? Hopefully he at least was too old to be sticking his dick into all their neighbors at that point.

Sorry, between Lance's death and his, meaning Bill's.

Pat on Lance

Lance looked like DeNiro in his teens...

I knew Pat when she was a literary agent in NYC. We'd have lunch twice a year, not because she had good writers but because she was fun to talk to. Lance was, however, a drama queen of the first order, lots of fun in small doses but not someone you'd want to spend a lot of time with. A friend of mine (female) dated Grant for a while and claimed he gave her a disease. Whatever.

When Lance came out on An American Family, everyone looked to Pat to see how she responded. She made history, and showed that middle America was indeed capable of loving its gay children. RIP Pat.

Here's the first episode opening. Isn't one of her daughters on the Jeopardy production team?

Michelle Loud is head co-writer of Jeopardy.

R31, thanks for that clip, it brought me right back to my 13 year old self...

Lance Loud on Dick Cavett’s show. I believe this interview took place in 1973.

The interview continued with Lance and his siblings.

Were the other kids featured on the show? Scant mention of them in the obit.

I believe Pat must have drafted her own obit, likely some time ago, or at 94 wasn’t aware that “gathering friends and family at a crowded table” would be extremely inappropriate and dangerous right now.

Lance dropped off Edie after a fashion show at the Santa Barbara Museum the night she died, and was likely the last person to see her alive.

Pat once said, "Of all the Louds, Lance was the loudest."

I worked for her daughter, Delilah Loud at King World, later CBS Enterprises. She was, uh, haughty. Her brother Grant Loud worked on the production team on Jeopardy! He is a nice guy. Lance was kind of an asshole.

As I recall Delilah was a haughty bitch as a teenager. I loved watching this series when PBS re-aired it in the early 1990s. Fascinating. The movie with Julianne Moore referenced above also very well done. Sometimes it was exactly like the original and I had to remind myself it was a movie based on the documentary. Surreal.

Pat Loud = The original Real Housewife of Orange County! Screw you Vicki Gunvalson!

I'll just leave this here.