- Joyce Van Patten
Infobox actress
imagesize = 150px
bgcolour =
name = Joyce Van Patten
birthname = Joyce Benignia Van Patten
birthdate = birth date and age|1934|03|9
location =New York City ,United States
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation =
spouse =Martin Balsam (1959-1962; divorced, 1 child)Dennis Dugan (divorced)Joyce Benignia Van Patten (born
March 9 1934 ) is an American stage, film and television actress.Personal life
Van Patten was born in
New York City , the daughter of Josephine Rose (née Acerno) and Richard Byron Van Patten. Her mother was anItalian-American , and her father had distant Dutch ancestry from a great-grandfather. [http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tdowling&id=I66904]She is the younger sister of actor
Dick Van Patten , and aunt to actorsVincent Van Patten ,James Van Patten andNels Van Patten . She was formerly married to the late actorMartin Balsam , and is the mother of actressTalia Balsam , who was briefly married to actorGeorge Clooney . She is divorced from actor-directorDennis Dugan , who has directed several films starringAdam Sandler .Career
Van Patten has appeared in dozens of television series. She was a member of the original cast of the daytime drama "
As the World Turns ".She made her prime-time TV debut as a featured regular on "
The Danny Kaye Show ", after which she co-starred withBob Denver andHerb Edelman in the 1968-70 sitcom "The Good Guys " as Claudia Gramus, the long-suffering wife of diner owner Bert Gramus (played by Edelman).Her countless guest appearances include "
Gunsmoke ", "The Untouchables ", "Perry Mason ", "The Twilight Zone ", "The Andy Griffith Show ", "The Rockford Files ", "Hawaii 5-0 ", "The Bob Newhart Show ", "The Odd Couple " and "Law & Order ".She played Joyce, the fiance of
Peter Sellers in the cult classic "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas " in1968 which tells the story of Harold Fine, a self-described "square" lawyer, falls for an attractive flower power hippie girl (played byLeigh Taylor-Young ) who has a knack for making pot brownies (hence the title of the film). Harold ends up running out of his wedding to live with the hippie girl and attempts to find himself as well with the aid of a guru (or does he?).On a 1976 episode of "Columbo", Van Patten had a leading role as a museum owner and curator who commits murder. In 1979, she appeared opposite
Mary Tyler Moore in CBS's "The Mary Tyler Moore Hour " as Iris Chapman, secretary and assistant to Moore's Mary McKinnon character.In 1995, she played Maureen, Jennie's mother for two seasons on the WB sit-com "
Unhappily Ever After ".Her last series role to date came as Carol Prudy on two episodes of the ABC Network comedy/drama "
Desperate Housewives ".Van Patten has had supporting roles in many films, among them the head of the Little League in the original "
Bad News Bears ".She also has appeared often on Broadway, in shows including Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Rumors" and "Rabbit Hole."
She has usually been astringent in her screen roles, except when she played Maude Pomfritt, schoolteacher Leander Pomfritt (played by
William Schallert )'s treacly wife on the late 1950s/early 1960s TV series "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis ".External links
*imdb name|id=0887696|name=Joyce Van Patten
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.