Patricia Montandon, 1960s KGO-tv hostess, dies at 96

Patricia Montandon, 1960s KGO-tv hostess, dies at 96
By Kevin Wing, SF/Norcal Chapter of NATAS, Inc. 
 
Patricia “Pat” Montandon, a well-known San Francisco socialite throughout much of the last half of the 20th century who was also a best-selling author and a television hostess on KGO-TV in the 1960s, passed away Sunday morning at her home in Palm Desert, California, according to her son, author Sean Wilsey. Montandon was 96. She would have celebrated her 97th birthday on Friday. 
 
In the 1960s, Montandon hosted “The Prize Movie” and “The Pat Montandon Show” on KGO-TV in San Francisco. She was so popular with Bay Area TV viewers that college students founded a fan club for her in 1965 that was followed by tens of thousands of people. 
 
Montandon was also a society columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. In later years, she became a New York Times best-selling author of numerous non-fiction books, including “How To Be a Party Girl” and “The Intruders”. In 2014, Montandon released her memoirs, “Peeing on Hot Coals”. 
 
Married and divorced four times, Montandon’s third husband was famed San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli, whom she was briefly married to in 1966 before marrying dairy product mogul Alfred Wilsey.
 
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