Feb. 19, 1965 - Patricia Neal, 39, who won an Academy Award last year for her portrayal of a housekeeper in “Hud,” underwent brain surgery today after suffering two strokes yesterday.
Her physician, Dr. Charles Carton, said at 3:30 p.m.: “Miss Neal was brought in to UCLA Medical Center with severe inner-cranial bleeding, and brain surgery was performed. Her condition remains critical.”
At Miss Neal’s bedside in the center’s extensive care unit following the operation were her husband, British writer Roald Dahl, and their three children.
The actress had arrived in Los Angeles only two weeks ago from England to begin work on the MGM production, “Seven Women.”
The first stroke came at her Beverly Hills home, a few hours after she left the set yesterday. The second came after her arrival at the medical center.
Tragedy has played a major role in the life of the Kentucky-born actress in recent years.
The eldest of her four children, Olivia, died of measles at the age of seven in 1962.
Her 5-year-old son Theo has been under doctor’s care since an infant when his baby buggy was struck by a taxi in New York. During much of the time since the accident, the child has been blind.
Following the accident, Miss Neal, her husband, and children moved to a large farm house at Great Missenden, 40 miles northwest of London.
“We moved from New York to the heart of the English countryside,” the actress explained later, “because I thought it was the safest place in the world to bring up children.”
Ironically, it wasn’t long after the move to England that their eldest girl caught measles and died.
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