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Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke -- mother of Sean Astin -- dies at 69

By Karen Butler
Patty Duke and Emmanuel Lewis are all smiles on February 2, 1988 in Los Angeles. The actress died Tuesday morning. File Photo by Glenn Waggner/UPI
1 of 2 | Patty Duke and Emmanuel Lewis are all smiles on February 2, 1988 in Los Angeles. The actress died Tuesday morning. File Photo by Glenn Waggner/UPI | License Photo

LOS ANGELES, March 29 (UPI) -- Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke has died. She was 69.

Her representative Mitchell Stubbs confirmed the sad news to USA Today Tuesday.

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"Anna 'Patty Duke' Pearce passed away this morning March 29, 2016 at 1:20 am," he said in a statement.

"Her cause of death was sepsis from a ruptured intestine. She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a mental health advocate and a cultural icon. She will be missed."

Duke is a former Screen Actors Guild president best known for performance in the 1962 film version of The Miracle Worker. She also starred in TV's The Patty Duke Show and Valley of the Dolls. She candidly addressed her battle with bipolar disorder in the memoir Call Me Anna.

The actress is survived by her fourth husband Michael Pearce and three sons -- Sean and Mackenzie Astin, and Kevin Pearce.

"I love you mom," Sean Astin captioned a picture of Duke holding him as a baby in a Facebook post Tuesday.

Sean Astin starred in The Goonies, Rudy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. His younger brother Mackenzie appeared on the TV sitcom The Facts of Life.

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I love you mom.

Posted by Sean Astin on Tuesday, March 29, 2016

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