Patty Duke Dead: Sean Astin, Alyssa Milano And Larry King React To Legendary Actress’ Death

Academy Award-winning actress and child star Patty Duke has died at the age of 69. The actress passed away due to sepsis from a ruptured intestine.

Duke was a film, television and stage actress who won an Oscar in 1962 for the role of Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker." She also won three Emmys throughout her career, including one for the 1979 adaptation of "The Miracle Worker" for NBC, as well as two Golden Globes.

Duke got her start starring in TV specials and shows in the 1950s before she was finally cast in her award-winning role. The actress then shot to fame with assistance from her TV series, "The Patty Duke Show," where she played identical cousins with very different personalities. The show was a huge success, running from 1963 to 1966. Later in her life, she went on to be a big advocate of mental health by working with the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

"Anna 'Patty Duke' Pearce passed away this morning March 29, 2016, at 1:20 a.m.," one of her representatives, Mitchell Strubbs, 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 survived by her fourth husband, Michael Pearce, and her three children Sean Astin, Mackenzie Astin and Kevin Pearce. Her son Sean, who is also an actor, released a family statement on the death on Facebook and included a picture of his mother holding him as a baby. While the actor may have been related to the late actress, he was not the only person in Hollywood to mourn Duke.