Patty Duke Childhood, Marriage, Divorce, Controversy, Children and Net worth

Everyone talks about those who are alive and doing their best with their life. Well, in today’s topic we will talk about a legendary actress who left a huge mark in today’s world even without her presence. Well, she is none other than Patty Duke. She was an American actress who appeared on stage, film, and television.

Patty is well known for her work in movies like The Miracle worker, Valley of the Dolls, The four children of Tander Welch, Kimberly to name a few. She won three Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe awards during her acting career. Patty married four-time in her life. So if you want to know about Patty Duke continue reading the article below:

Difficult Childhood

Patty Duke was born as Anna Marie Duke on December 14, 1946, in Manhattan, Newyork city. She was born to father John Patrick Duke and mother Frances Margaret. Her dad worked as a handyman and the cab driver while her mother was a cashier in a bank. She belongs to Irish and German descent. Duke grew up in a difficult environment alongside her brother Raymond Duke and Carol Duke.

Additionally, a three-time Emmy award-winning actress constantly faced difficulties while growing up because of her father’s alcoholic habit. Patty didn’t get the love of a father as he was forced to leave the family after an abusive alcoholic habit.

Ultimately, Patty’s caught the eye of a talent manager husband and wife John and Ethe Ross. The couple was known for managing child actors and had previously managed Patty’s brother Raymond.  During that time her real name was Anna Marie but the talent manager couple made Duke live a fake life by giving her a fake name which is Patty.

The reason behind that was they wanted to duplicate the success of the then famous actress Patty McCormack. They even gave her alcohol and prescription drugs and took unreasonably high fees from her earning followed by sexual harassment at a young age. Moreover, Patty never saw her parents after that until her death.

First marriage

Although Patty had never thought of marrying and planned to become a nun in her youth days she married four times during her life. In the 60’s she was married to Director Harry Falk who was over a decade senior to her. The couple tied the knot in 1965 in an intimate ceremony. Her marriage with the director had given her a new life since she was far away from the abusive childhood guardian.

Despite getting rid of the talent managers shade her past hunted Patty’s married life. During her marriage, she faced the problem of repeated mood swings, drank heavily and overdosed pills for a number of times. Sadly her habits imbalanced her married life due to which she divorced Harry after four years of marriage in 1969.

Controversial Marriage

After the unsuccessful first marriage, Patty dated three men in the 70’s when she was 23 years of age. She parallelly dated six-year younger actor Desi Arnaz Jr, 16-year senior actor John Astin, and rock promoter Michael Tell. Her relationship with Desi Arnaz became a topic of controversy after his mother opposed Patty’s relationship with 17 years old Arnaz. Because of that, they decided to separate their ways.

 

Following a year in 1970 June 26, Patty found out that she was pregnant due to which she married Michael Tell, so as to give her child a name. The two had a fake marriage due to which after the birth of the child they separated. However, things started to get quirky after Patty told Michael that the biological father of the child was not him but actor John Astin. But later after going through the test it revealed the real father of her first child Sean was actually Michael Tell.

Since Patty had divorced her child’s paternity father Michael, she went on to marry John Astin who adopted her son Sean Astin. Later she gave birth to a child with John. She started living a normal life with her husband and also worked together since they belonged to the same profession. She even took his name and became Patty Duke Astin.

Furthermore, she adopted three sons after undergoing Hysterectomy which is the surgical process of removing the uterus. Sadly after that, her marriage with John started to fall apart due to which they decided to separate with mutual consent in 1985. Following her divorce with John her adopted son’s reversed the adoption with Duke approval.

Fourth Marriage

Duke had constantly faced ups and downs in her marriage due to which everyone had thought she would remain single. However, all that changed after she met Drill Sergeant Michael Pearce. The couple met during the production of one of her movie A time to Trump for which Pearce worked as a consultant.

Ultimately, the couple tied the knot in 1986 and moved to Hayden Idaho. Since Patty could not give birth because she had removed uterus the couple decided to adopt a child. She lived happily with Michael until her last breath. She also changed her name to Anna Duke Pearce which she used in her writings and other professional work.

Death

Patty Duke took her last breath on the morning of March 29,2016, in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. The reason behind her death was the ruptured intestine. She died at the age of 69 where her eldest son actor Sean Astin handled the Funeral.

Since she faced numerous mental problems throughout her life Sean started a mental health foundation on his mother’s name, Patty Duke Mental health Initiative. She was buried at Forest Cemetery in Idaho. All of the Hollywood fraternity paid her tribute after the death of the legendary actor.

Children

Patty Duke was blessed with three children from her four marriages during her life. She was blessed with a son on February 25, 1971, named Sean Astin from her marriage with Michael tell. Despite being born to Michael, Sean was raised by her stepfather John Astin due to which he took his surname, Astin.

Sean is an actor, voice actor, director and producer. He is famous for his role as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy alongside Christopher Lee. He married former Miss Indiana teen Christine Harrell. The pair gave birth to three daughters Alexandra Duke, Elizabeth Duke, and Isabella Duke making Patty Duke’s grandmother of three beautiful granddaughters.

Additionally, Patty gave birth to another child again a son Mackenzie Astin from her marriage with John Astin. The ex-couple welcomed their son on May 12, 1973. He is also an actor just like his mother who is best known for movie Windsor alongside Adams Hicks, Ian Colletti, Nick Krause. He is married to Jennifer Abbott Astin. Furthermore, she adopted a son named Kevin Pearce after her fourth marriage with Michael Pearce.

Awards and Recognition

Patty received multiple awards during over a decade of an acting career.  Her accolades include an Academy Award for the best supporting role, three Emmy awards with 10 nominations and two golden globes for four nominations. She also became the youngest Academy Award winner after she won it in 1963. Likewise, she received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the film industry.

Moreover, Patty was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters degree from north Florida university on her 61st birthday. She received the award for her contribution to mental health awareness.  Likewise, on March 6, 2010, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Net Worth-$10 million

Patty Duke had $10 million of net worth at the time of her death in 2015. She accumulated this fortune from her career as an actress and talk show host. She also won $32,000 at a show named ”The $64000 question”. Furthermore, she earned around $40,000 to $60,000 as a fee during the ’60s and ’70s.

Likewise, she earned around $100,000 to $125,000 during the ’80s and ’90s which is also an average payment made to the actress in those time. Patty also had her own show “The Patty Duke Show” which was a huge hit and went on to air 104 episodes across three seasons. She also featured in some of the biggest hits which include:

S.N	Movies	Budget	Boxoffice
1.	The Miracle Worker	$500,000	$2.5 million
2.	Valley of the Dolls	$4.69 million	$50 million
3.	Bigger than the sky	$750,000	$2.4 million
4.	Prelude to a kiss	$500,000	$22,697,691

As of now all of her money is given to charity name Patty Duke Mental foundation. Moreover, Patty’s son Sean Astin has a net worth of $20 million. Likewise, her other son Mackenzie Astin hits a net worth of $5 million from acting career.