Actress Patty Duke dead at 69.

[Greenbacks]

(CNN)Patty Duke, the actress who won fame with her stage and screen portrayals of Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker," died Tuesday, according to her agent. She was 69.Duke died of sepsis from a ruptured intestine, according to a statement from Mitchell K. Stubbs & Associates, the agency that represented her.
Duke won an Academy Award in 1963 for her portrayal of Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker," a role she also played to acclaim on Broadway.

She was also known for roles in "Valley of the Dolls," "My Sweet Charlie" and "Me, Natalie," as well as for the "The Patty Duke Show," which aired from 1963 to 1966.
<strike></strike>

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[PigskinArmor]

Rip

 

[Tracker]

Another icon gone.

RIP Patty.

 

[Betallsports]

Wow, what a way to go

very sad...

RIP

 

[GoSooners]

I never knew Rudy was her son. Sounds very disfunctional...

• Sean Astin was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of actress Patty Duke. At the time, it was reported that entertainer Desi Arnaz, Jr. was his biological father. When Michael Tell, a writer, music promoter and publisher of the newspaper The Las Vegas Israelite, came to sublet her apartment and offered to marry her as a way out of the scandal, Duke agreed. The marriage lasted only 13 days in 1970, and ended long before Astin was born.
  
  When he was 14, Duke told Astin that Arnaz was his father, and the two developed a relationship. But in his mid-20s, Astin met a relative of Michael Tell who suggested they were related. Sean set out to find the truth about his biological father, and underwent genetic tests that showed that Tell was Sean's biological father. Astin maintains close relationships with all three men, saying, "Desi Arnaz Jr. loves me, and I love him. We are so close...Science tells me...that he's not my biological father. Science tells me that Mike Tell is." Astin considers John his father, as John was the one who raised him. Astin is also close to his step-father, Mike Pearce, saying, "I can call any of them on the phone any time I want to," says Sean. "John, Desi, Mike or Papa Mike...my four dads."
  
  
  
  ​