BOISE, Idaho — Pat Hansing was 27 when she received the call that launched her Hollywood career.
“I tested for the part on a Wednesday, they called me on Thursday, I signed the contracts on a Friday and started working on Monday,” she said.
She used her maiden name, Pat Priest, for her show business career. “That was my big break.”
Today the 73-year-old sells antiques with her sister at Once Upon a Time in the Collister Shopping Center in Boise.
Hansing appeared in 57 episodes of “The Munsters,” which aired from Sept. 24, 1964, to May 12, 1966. She also had roles in “Bewitched,” “Perry Mason,” “The Virginian” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” among others. She appeared in more than two dozen television shows.
Hansing was born in 1936 in Salt Lake City. She spent her late teen years in Washington, D.C., while her mother, Ivy Baker Priest, served as the United States Treasurer from 1953 to 1961.
After Hansing married an officer in the Navy, she and her new husband were transferred several times, including to Southern California.
Along the way, she began pursuing work in commercials and modeling. She appeared in spots for Rice Krispies, Nestle Ice Tea and Purina Dog Food, among others. “I probably did over a hundred commercials,” she said.
Along with numerous television and commercial spots, she also starred with Elvis Presley in the motion picture, “Easy Come, Easy Go.” “He was very shy and quiet,” she said.
Priest said she wasn’t really star-struck. “It was just a job to me and Elvis. I never got an autograph or picture with him, or anything.”
But Hansing did end up owning a piece of Elvis history, at least for a short time. While she and Elvis were talking on the set one day, Priest mentioned she was looking to buy a new car. “He told me, ‘Well, do you want to buy my Cadillac? I’ll make you a good deal.’” Hansing paid $3,000 for Presley’s 1967 Cadillac El Dorado convertible with black leather interior.
“I bought it and drove it a couple of years,” remembers Hansing, who then traded it in for a new Pontiac. She never told the dealer it was Presley’s car when she traded it.
Today as an antiques dealer, she understands the value of the car. “It might be worth over $400,000 today,” she said. “That was my retirement fund, and I traded it away.”
Hansing left show business in 1985 when she moved to Hailey, Idaho, with her husband, Fred Hansing. “I just didn’t want to keep flying back and forth,” said Hansing, who now lives in Eagle, Idaho.
Hansing said she never was a fan of the Hollywood lifestyle. “Doing ‘The Munsters’ and television is hard work,” she says. “You wait all day long for your scene. It’s not glamorous at all.”
In spite of the long days, she looks back on her role as Marilyn Munster as one of her favorites. “We became a family, personally as well as professionally,” Hansing said.
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