Joyce Van Patten's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Unhappily Ever After Maureen Sla… The Mary Tyler Moore Hour Iris Chapman The Don Rickles Show Jean Benedict CBS Summer Playhouse Ilene The Loner Peggy Young Dr. Kildare Nurse Marvin The Good Guys (1968) Claudia Gra…

Main Movie Roles 2010 - Grown Ups 1996 - Infinity 1988 - Monkey Shines 1987 - Blind Date 1985 - St. Elmo's Fire 1985 - The Falcon and the Snowman 1976 - The Bad News Bears 1974 - Mame 1969 - The Trouble with Girls 1968 - I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! 1958 - The Goddess

BIOGRAPHY:

Before reaching a year old, New York-born actress Joyce Van Patten was already auditioning for modeling roles along with older brother Dick Van Patten, prodded by a typically assertive stage mother. The Van Patten siblings displayed natural talent and did quite well for themselves at such an early age. By age 8, Joyce was appearing on radio and on Broadway in the William Saroyan play "Love's Old Sweet Song." A year later she and Dick had bit roles in the film Reg'lar Fellers (1941) and appeared together in the play "The Wind Is Ninety" (1945). Following a brief marriage at the age of 16, Joyce grew into vivid young adult roles and found ripe parts in a number of popular plays including "The Desk Set" (1955) and "A Hole in the Head" (1957). She and Dick appeared together in New York with "The Male Animal" (1953), "The Tender Trap" (1955) and "Oh Men! Oh Women! (1955). Joyce tended to downplay her beauty for smart, cynical, earthier characters and specialized in wry, neurotic comedy. Her film career proved uneventful, however, with a non-speaking part in Fourteen Hours (1951) and a featured bit in The Goddess (1958) starring Kim Stanley (I).

TV roles started coming her way in the late 1950s with one-season parts on the soap dramas "As the World Turns" (1956) and "Young Dr. Malone" (1958). Since then Joyce has divided her time between the stage and TV with intermittent film assignments coming along once in awhile, including such offbeat fare as I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968) and Making It (1971), the latter also featuring brother Dick. A regular on "The Danny Kaye Show" (1963) for four seasons, she was Herb Edelman's take-it-on-the chin wife in "The Good Guys" (1968), her best chance for series comedy stardom. She faltered with regular roles in ill-fated TV vehicles designed for Don Rickles and Mary Tyler Moore. Over the years, Joyce's most prolific work has come from the Broadway stage. She shone in a number of popular shows such as "Spoon River Anthology," "Same Time, Next Year," "I Oughta Be in Pictures," "The Supporting Cast," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Rumors," "Jake's Women," and, more recently, "Ring Round the Moon" (1999) and "Taller Than a Dwarf" (2000). A delight whether playing drab, shrill wives or nagging, nervous relatives, she appeared in a sparkling production of "Harvey" in 2003, and continues to make guest appearances on such popular TV shows as "Judging Amy" (1999) and "Desperate Housewives" (2004).


TRIVIA:

• Made her debut at five months old modeling a baby blanket in a Sears catalog.
• Aunt of 'Vincent Van Patten' (qv), 'Nels Van Patten' (qv) and 'James Van Patten (I)' (qv).
• Mother of actress 'Talia Balsam' (qv)
• Ironically played ex-husband Martin Balsam's wife in 80s film St. Elmos Fire.
• Mother-in-law of actor John Slattery.
• Half sister of 'Timothy Van Patten' (qv).
• Son named Thomas Casey King, born November 12 1951, New York City.
• Daughter of Richard Byron Van Patten and wife Josephine Rose Acerno.