Neva Louise Patterson was born on a farm outside Nevada, Iowa, and was named for a friend of her mother's, not her hometown, she told the Des Moines Register in 2002

Patterson, a character actress was best known as portraying Cary Grant's fiance in the 1957 movie "An Affair to Remember". The actress was a veteran of Broadway when she was cast as Lois, the socialite who would not make it to the altar with Grant in An Affair to Remember.
On Broadway, Patterson debuted in The Druid Circle one of 10 plays that she appeared in on the Great White Way between 1947 and 1959.

She originated the role of Helen Sherman in 1952 in The Seven Year Itch on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include The Ivy Green, I Know My Love, Double in Hearts, and Speaking of Murder and Make a Million

Source: The LA Times