Patty Duke - Dead at 69

Patty Duke, Oscar-winning actress and the star of an eponymous TV show, died this morning, ABC News has confirmed.

According to her rep, Mitchell Stubbs, the cause of death was sepsis from a ruptured intestine.

The actress, whose real name was Anna Pearce, was 69.

"She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a mental health advocate and a cultural icon," Stubbs added in a statement. "She will be greatly missed."

"This morning, our beloved wife, mother, matriarch and the exquisite artist, humanitarian and champion of mental health, Anna Patty Duke, closed her eyes, quieted her pain and ascended to a beautiful place," read a family statement. "We celebrate the infinite love and compassion she shared through her work and throughout her life."

 Anna Marie "Patty" Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She first became known as a teen star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16 for her role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962), a role which she had originated on Broadway.The following year she was given her own show, The Patty Duke Show, in which she played "identical cousins"; she later progressed to more mature roles such as that of Neely O'Hara in the film Valley of the Dolls (1967). 

Duke also served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 to 1988.

Duke was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1982, after which she devoted much of her time to advocating for and educating the public on mental health issues. She died on March 29, 2016 of sepsis from a ruptured intestine.

Her husband, Michael Pearce, told The New York Times that she died at a hospital near her home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, from complications of a ruptured intestine that she had suffered Thursday.

Duke received her Oscar in 1963 at age 16, then the youngest ever to win in a competitive

category. She also collected three Emmy Awards among 10 nominations during her career.

Duke's film career was sporadic, peaking with her first major production, The Miracle Worker(1962), and reaching the most attention with Valley of the Dolls (1967) where, countering her squeaky-clean image, she played a pill-popping alcoholic.

Her other films included Happy Anniversary (1959), By Design (1981), Willy/Milly (1986), The Hitch-Hikers (1989), Prelude to a Kiss (1992), Bigger Than the Sky (2005) and Amazing Love (2012), appearing opposite her son, Sean Astin of Lord of the Rings and Rudy fame.

In addition to her husband and Sean, survivors include another son, Mackenzie Astin (Andy on the 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life and a broadcast journalist on Scandal).

Duke was married from 1972 to 1985 to Addams Family star John Astin. He adopted Sean, and he and Patty had Mackenzie together.

After "The Patty Duke Show" was canceled, however, the actress sought out more adult roles. In 1967, she appeared as Neely O'Hara in "Valley of the Dolls," and in 1969, she starred in "Me, Natalie," for which she won a Golden Globe. An Emmy followed the year after, when Duke starred as a pregnant teenager in a made-for-TV movie, "My Sweet Charlie." (She also won Emmys in 1977 and 1980.) However, privately, Duke was battling bipolar disorder, for which she was diagnosed in 1982.

You can learn more about her here.