Patty Duke outraged Hollywood with teen affair and two-week marriage

To the world she was a cute, youthful, blue-eyed Hollywood darling, but away from the camera Patty Duke’s life was beset by lies, heartbreak and scandal

Sex, lies and a teen lover scandalised Hollywood

To the world she was a cute, youthful, blue-eyed Hollywood darling, but away from the camera Patty Duke’s life was beset by lies, depression and scandal.

Married four times, she outraged Hollywood by having an affair with Lucille Ball’s son when he was just 17, then married a virtual stranger before breaking up with him just 13 days later. Her son, The Lord Of The Rings star Sean Astin, only discovered the true identity of his father when he was in his 20s

Even the name we knew her by was not really hers.

She was born Anna Maria Duke in Elmhurst, New York, in 1946. With an alcoholic father and a manic depressive mother her early home life was tumultuous and unstable.

Recruited by talent agents John and Ethel Ross, who had earlier signed her brother Ray, she was often left in the care of the Rosses, who changed her name to Patty. They were later accused of exploiting the naive young actor, taking her money and plying her with drugs as she struggled with depression as a teenager.

Duke became a familiar face on commercials, TV shows and films as a child but was embroiled in a scandal when she won on the quiz show The $64,000 Question.

Called to a Senate committee hearing into game show rigging, the producers of the show tried to coach her to lie to the committee but she broke down and revealed that she had been given the answers on the quiz show.

While still a teenager she received critical acclaim playing the deaf and blind Helen Keller in the Broadway production of The Miracle Worker, which ran from 1959 to 1961.

She was cast in the 1962 film version alongside Anne Bancroft, who played Keller’s tutor Annie Sullivan in the stage production. The film earned her an Academy Award as best supporting actor. In 1979 she appeared in a television version of the play, this time in the role of Sullivan alongside child star Melissa Gilbert.

Her Broadway success led to a starring role in The Patty Duke show, in which she played Patty and Cathy Lane, identical cousins. Filmed in New York, the show ran for three seasons from 1963-66 when it was cancelled after Duke refused to move when producers wanted to take production to Los Angeles.

While doing the show Duke met assistant director Harry Falk, who she married in 1965. After her show ended she tried to break out of the sitcom mould by appearing as a drug-addled singer in Valley Of The Dolls (1967), a role some fans found hard to accept.

She divorced Falk in 1969 and in 1970 made headlines for her romance with Ball’s 17-year-old Desi Arnaz jnr. Ball was very vocal in her opposition to the affair.

“Leave my son alone ... He’s only 17!” screamed one headline. “Patty Duke used my son & victimzed us,” was another.

A magazine headline in which Lucille Ball lashed Patty Duke over her relationship with son Desi Arnez jr.

When the pressure grew too much, writer Michael Tell offered to marry her after meeting her while arranging to sublet her apartment. Not surprisingly the marriage was annulled after just 13 days.

Duke gave birth Sean in February 1971 and the boy grew up believing he was Desi’s son.

It was not until he was an adult that genetic tests revealed his father was Tell.

After Sean’s birth Dukes began dating John Astin, the actor best known as Gomez from The Addams Family and 16 years her senior. They married in 1972, Astin adopted Sean and initially the marriage seemed happy.

But Duke’s undiagnosed bipolar syndrome put a strain on the union and by the time she was diagnosed and began receiving treatment the couple had separated. They divorced in 1985.

That year she became president of the Screen Actors Guild as well as playing a female US president in TV sitcom Hail To The Chief, which was cancelled after only seven episodes.

While working on a film about a woman joining the army in 1986 she met drill instructor Michael Pierce who she later married.

Most of her roles over the last 30 years have been on TV with the occasional film role. Her final role was in the Christian film Power Of The Air, which is due out next year.

She died on March 29 of sepsis from a ruptured intestine. She is survived by Michael and her three sons Sean, Mackenzie and Kevin.

Originally published as Patty Duke outraged Hollywood with teen affair and two-week marriage