PATTY McCORMACK is a legend. Plain and simple.
For more than eight decades, she has graced stage, screen, and even radio—working steadily across film, television, and theater from the earliest days of black-and-white to today’s digital age. While she will forever be remembered for her Academy Award–nominated performance as the young she-devil Rhoda in the 1956 classic The Bad Seed—a role she first originated on Broadway—Patty’s career is far richer and more expansive than any single performance.
In a career that has stretched from radio dramas and black-and-white classics to indie films and video games, PATTY McCORMACK remains endlessly curious and joyfully engaged. Speaking at length about her newest film STOP TIME, her recent stage resurgence, and the ever-evolving nature of performance, McCormack reflects on memory, immediacy, and the simple pleasure of still getting to do the work—eight decades in.
Over the years, she has portrayed everyone from Pat Nixon in Frost/Nixon to appearing in multiple television homages to The Bad Seed, alongside countless episodic roles, including a memorable stint filling in for the beloved Leslie Charleson on General Hospital. Her stage work remains equally vital, most recently co-starring with Dan Lauria in the acclaimed play Just Another Day.
This weekend, however, audiences young and old will see Patty deliver a quietly beautiful and emotionally graceful performance in STOP TIME, which makes its world premiere at Dances With Films NY.
Having interviewed Patty before at the TCM Film Festival in Los Angeles, reconnecting with her is always a joy—an opportunity to revisit an extraordinary career while celebrating everything that’s still new.
As Patty reflects, “When you think about it, there have been things that have come and gone—downtime as far as work—but I feel like I have a resurgence going on in these later years, mostly because of the play that I’ve been doing with Dan Lauria, Just Another Day. We’ve been doing it in a lot of places. It was a tough one to learn and execute, and that felt really special.” It was Just Another Day that ultimately led her to STOP TIME.
While performing in New York, Patty attended a class taught by Bobby Moresco at the AMT Theater, where she encountered a short version of STOP TIME. “Tara Westwood and Nelson Avidon were in the class, and I was able to see the short film,” she explains. “Then Tara contacted me and asked if I would want to play her mom. They were developing it into a full-length film, and that’s how it came about.”
Once Patty said yes, the production moved quickly. “Paul [Schwartz] obviously directed it, and it was such an enjoyable experience. We did it in just a few hours at a house location. He made it so comfortable to do what we were doing—he was terrific.”
In STOP TIME, Patty plays Grandma, a woman whose grasp on memory and communication may be slipping. It’s a performance filled with grace and old-world charm. When Grandma is given an old photograph and later recognizes a small coat once worn by her adopted daughter, Patty lights up the screen—delivering something deeply human, tender, and quietly devastating.
Director Paul Schwartz has openly praised Patty’s work, calling her “a real godsend,” citing her emotional authority, technical precision, and complete dependability. Having worked with actors well into their 90s, Schwartz was keenly aware of the risks—but with Patty, there were none.
She’s candid about the challenges of aging as an actor. “It is harder when you get older—it just is. And the process has changed so much. Television now is very immediate. That can be nerve-wracking, especially for people who worry about memory. Theater is different—you rehearse, you repeat, and it gets into your brain. I’m blessed, for whatever reason, not to be suffering from that right now.”
Does theater help keep her sharp? Patty answers with enthusiasm. “Oh yes—absolutely. The dialogue in the play is complicated, but it’s rhythmic. If you can remember lyrics to a song, you can learn a play.”
Her journey with Just Another Day was itself serendipitous—stepping into the role late, book in hand, and discovering its power through patience and persistence. “My sister said, ‘You have to memorize that—it’s a good part for you.’ She told me to take five pages at a time. And in doing so, it turned into a wonderful thing.”
Despite STOP TIME being a micro-budget indie, there was still room for rehearsal—something Patty appreciated.
“We worked it for a while. I seem to be doing a lot of characters with dementia because that’s what’s written now for older people. It feels very real to me. The repetition and the missing words in Grandma’s speech—it was very smartly written.”
There’s also a beautiful sense of full-circle symmetry in STOP TIME. Patty’s career began in black-and-white—and here she is, seven decades later, performing in a film shot the same way.
“It’s one of my favorites. The color doesn’t get in the way. I loved knowing it was black-and-white—and the clothing! Tara cleverly mixed patterns so certain things would register on camera. I remembered all that from childhood.”
Always curious, Patty has recently ventured into a world unimaginable when she first began: voicing animation and video games. “I’m voicing a game called Cookie Run Kingdom. I play Dark Enchantress Cookie. I am the BAD cookie!”
Reflecting on the ever-changing industry, she laughs, “I’m so old now that I did radio. Holy cow!”
Sadly, Patty won’t be able to attend the New York premiere of STOP TIME due to her Cookie Run Kingdom commitments, but if the film screens at Dances With Films Los Angeles later this year, she plans to be there. There’s also talk of returning Just Another Day to Ireland for another run following a successful Alzheimer’s fundraiser at Trinity College. And she’s holding out hope for an invite to TCM FIlm Festival in April. ” It would be lovely. Wouldn’t that be nice if that happened?”
Nearly seventy years after terrifying audiences as The Bad Seed, Patty McCormack is still delighting them—this time as the “BAD cookie” in a hit video game. From Rhoda to Dark Enchantress Cookie, it seems mischief has always suited her just fine. The difference now? The legend behind the menace is having even more fun.
For now, everything old is new again—with STOP TIME and with Patty McCormack herself: elegant, vital, enthusiastic, and still very much present.
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 01/13/2026
STOP TIME makes its World Premiere on January 17th at Dance With Films New York and is on the festival circuit.
