Alex Carson
Patty Duke
Patty Duke was a star, but most people don’t know how difficult things were for her in the early days. Her managers weren’t looking out for Patty’s best interests; they were looking out for their own. First, they changed her name. She was born Anna Marie Duke, but her managers changed her name to Patty. Her managers also had her eradicate her accent, telling her that this would be important if she were going to get jobs. They also told her what jobs she could take and how she could and couldn’t spend her free time. Like most teenagers who are always being told what to do, Patty rebelled.
Finding Her Own Way
Patty hated being told what to do all the time, and she felt trapped. She rebelled, and the media started to notice. Patty’s mother couldn’t care for her, which is how she ended up with her managers in the first place. They were a married couple who trained young stars to become disciplined actors. They worked with Patty’s older brother, and then they took her on as a client. When she was their client, they took over her life, which she hated. She believed that getting married was her only way out of the miserable situation that she was in.
Harry Falk
When Patty was working on The Patty Duke Show, she got very close to the show’s director, Harry Falk. The two started dating, and it wasn’t long before Harry realized how controlling Patty’s managers were. He asked Patty to marry him, and when she accepted, she was finally free of her managers. Patty was thrilled that she would have control over her own life. Things between Harry and Patty were great for a few years, but sadly, things fell apart, and the marriage ended.
Dezi Arnaz Jr.
When the marriage fell apart, Patty had no ill will against Harry. It was thanks to him that she was free of her managers, and allowed to make her own decisions. When she and Harry got divorced, she decided to take some time to focus on herself and her newfound freedom. She also wanted to focus on her career.
A few years after her divorce, she became involved with the son of Lucille Ball and Dezi Arnez, Dezi Arnez Jr. Dezi was six years younger than Patty, and his parents disagreed with the relationship from the very beginning. She struggled with this disapproval and wanted to move on from Dezi. When she met a man named Michael Tell, and she told him about her issues with Dezi, he offered to marry her. Hoping it would help her forget Dezi, she agreed. He was her second husband, and they were married for just 13 days.
John Astin
Patty never felt close to Michael, which is what ended their relationship so quickly. Before the ink on the divorce papers was dry, Patty moved on to a man named John Astin. Like Patty, he was an actor. When the couple met, John was married, but separated. This briefly got in the way to the couple being together, but Patty found out she was pregnant. She was worried that John wouldn’t be happy about the baby. He already had three children with his wife, and Patty didn’t know if he wanted to be a father again.
Also, she couldn’t be sure if he was her baby’s father. When she told John about the baby, he stepped up. Patty gave birth to a baby boy that they named Sean. When Sean was a year old, they were married. Patty cared for John’s three children as if they were her own, and they were all a happy family.
1985
Things were great for the family until 1984. In 1985, they divorced. When the marriage didn’t last, Patty decided that it was time to tell her son that John might not be his biological father. By this time, Sean was working on a career of his own. He landed a leading role in the hit film, The Goonies, and things were going great until the identity of his father came into question. Patty told Sean that Dezi Arnez Jr. could be his father.
Two Dads
When Patty told Sean the truth, it didn’t change the love that he had for John, but he wanted to meet Dezi. When the two met, they hit it off right away. From that point on, Sean had two dads. He was just 14 at the time.
More Daddy Drama
Sean’s career was really taking off, and he was landing leading roles in many successful films. Things were going great until Sean was approached by a relative of Micheal Tell, his mother’s second husband. The relative told Sean that Micheal could be his father. Sean wanted to know the truth. He found Michael and asked if he would be willing to take a DNA test. Michael agreed, and it was determined that Michael was Sean’s biological father. This didn’t change the relationships that Sean had with John or Michael. It just meant that he now had three dads. Patty Duke has just revealed who Sean Astins biological father is, paternity test leaves him speechless. For Sean, it wasn’t a tragedy. He says that some kids grow up without a father. He was lucky and had three.
