Pat Loud, the matriarch of the groundbreaking PBS documentary series “American Family”, has passed away. She was 94.
She made pop culture history when the series premiered in 1973. In short, Loud was the mother of reality TV.
Her family confirmed Loud’s passing away on Sunday on their official Facebook page.
“With inconsolable grief, we are saddened to share the news with friends and family that Pat Loud passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday 10 January at 13:55 PT,” reads the report. “She was safely locked up in her comfortable home, attended by loving children Michele, Delilah, Kevin and Grant.”
‘American Family’, created by documentary Craig Gilbert, has cast an sometimes harsh spotlight on the lives of the upper-middle class, school days and infidelities of Loud, her husband, Bill, and their five children in Santa Barbara, California. In the series, the separation and divorce of the Louds is rumored on camera, as well as the emergence of their eldest son, Lance, the first openly gay person to appear on American television.
The program made international headlines – some are very critical of the Louds because they broadcast all their dirty laundry to the general public – and was even parodied by the original cast of ‘Saturday Night Live’.
Patricia Claire Russell was born on October 4, 1926 in Eugene, Oregon. He studied at Stanford University in 1948 with a degree in World History and English Literature. On her return to her hometown, she met Bill Loud and fell in love.
They were married in Mexico City, and the first son – Alanson “Lance” Russell Loud – was born in June 1951.
“Four children, a move to Santa Barbara and a notorious divorce later, were Pat’s brilliant second act in progress,” her family shared in their Facebook memorial. An apartment on the Upper East Side in New York and a new career in the book business followed in the 1980s to England’s favorite Roman spa Bath. But wherever she was, an invitation to her table meant an unforgettable evening of delicious food, generous drinks and convivial company. ‘
When the eldest son Lance, the outbreak of ‘American Family’, was diagnosed as HIV-positive during the AIDS epidemic, she returned to Los Angeles to care for him through the 1990s.
“Loud was a fierce, inflexible, straight matriarch and loyal campaigner of outsiders and iconoclasts,” her family reported. Her door was never locked and there was always room at her table. Never one for regret or reflection, she moved forward with enthusiasm and courage in life. ”
After moving to the Upper East Side of New York when Loud married on national television, Loud wrote two books: ‘Pat Loud: A Woman’s Story’ in 1974 and ‘Lance Out Loud’ in 2012.
The Emmy-winning “Cinema Verite,” a fictionalized production of “An American Family,” appeared on HBO in 2011, starring Tim Robbins as Bill, Diane Lane as Pat, Tim Robbins as Bill, Thomas Dekker as Lance and the late James Gandolfini as filmmaker Gilbert.
Lance died of complications from 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. (Yes, they eventually reunited.)
She is survived by her children Kevin Robert, Grant Randolph, Delilah Ann and Michele Summers Loud.
Instead of flowers, the family asks that any donations made in her name go to The Rescue Train, an animal welfare organization in Los Angeles.
“But … do you know what she really wants?”, The family continued in their tribute on social media. “Put something delicious in the oven and let the flavor fill the house. Gather friends and family around 5pm for a tray of savory treats. Fill a glass of ice and – if you really want to do it – take one each, VERY LARGE vodka. Maybe (definitely) two. Then sit down to dinner at a crowded table. Tell stories, put on music, laugh and make a lot of noise. Have seconds, clean plates. And love one another.
She will like it. ‘
