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Joyce Van Patten

b. 1934

American actress

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About Joyce Van Patten

Born 1934. Joyce Van Patten is an American television actor, film actor and stage actor.

Joyce Van Patten (born March 9, 1934) is an American film and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in films like The Bad News Bears, St. Elmo's Fire (1985) (as Mrs. Beamish), and as Gloria Noonan in Grown Ups (2010).

Career

Van Patten has appeared in dozens of television series. She portrayed Janice Turner on As the World Turns. She made her television debut as a featured regular on The Danny Kaye Show, after which she co-starred with Bob Denver and Herb Edelman in the 1968–70 sitcom The Good Guys as Claudia Gramus, the long-suffering wife of diner owner Bert Gramus (played by Edelman). She appeared in two episodes of Perry Mason ("The Case of the Prankish Professor" and "The Case of the Thermal Thief"). She appeared in guest or recurring roles on Stoney Burke, Hawaii Five-O, Gunsmoke (as bar girl "Molly" in "Anybody Can Kill a Marshal" - S8E26), The Untouchables, The Law and Mr. Jones, The Twilight Zone ("Passage on the Lady Anne"), The Jack Benny Program, Family Affair, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Andy Griffith Show, Mr. Novak, The Outer Limits, Mannix, The Rockford Files, The Bob Newhart Show, The Odd Couple, The F.B.I., Lou Grant, Law & Order, Oz, and The Sopranos. On a 1976 episode of Columbo, "Old Fashioned Murder", Van Patten played the lead, as a museum owner and curator. In 1974, she had a minor role in the episode "Negative Reaction" (with Dick Van Dyke) of the same series. In 1979, she starred as Iris Chapman in The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, and appeared in The Martian Chronicles the following year. In 1995, she played Maureen, Jennie's mother, for two seasons on the WB sitcom Unhappily Ever After. In 2005, she played Carol Prudy, Susan Mayer's stepmother, on two episodes of Desperate Housewives.

Her film credits include I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968), The Trouble with Girls (1969), Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You (1970), Making It (1971), Something Big (1971), Bone (1972), Thumb Tripping (1972), Mame (1974), The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975), The Bad News Bears (1976), Mikey and Nicky (1976), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), Billy Galvin (1986), Blind Date (1987), Monkey Shines (1988), Grown Ups (2010), This Must Be the Place (2011), and God's Pocket (2014). In 2018 she appeared in the short film The Rest.

Theatre At age 9, Van Patten made her stage debut in Tomorrow, the World!. She appeared on Broadway in, among other shows, A Hole in the Head, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Murder at the Howard Johnson's, Rumours, Jake's Women and Rabbit Hole. She appeared off-Broadway in such dramas as Love, Loss, and What I Wore, The Vagina Monologues, and Chekhov's The Seagull. She also appeared and recorded, with Charles Aidman and Naomi Caryl Hirschhorn, excerpts from Spoon River Anthology.

Personal life Van Patten is the sister of actor Dick Van Patten.

Van Patten was married to actor Martin Balsam from 1959 to 1962 and they had a daughter, actress Talia Balsam. Her second marriage–to actor Dennis Dugan–began, circa spring 1977, with a private ceremony conducted in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and ended in their 1987 divorce.

Filmography Film

Television

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Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Education
Professional Children's School
Also known as
Joyce Benignia Van Patten

Family & relationships

Spouse
Dennis Dugan
Spouse
Martin Balsam
Child
Talia Balsam

People in Joyce Van Patten's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Joyce Van Patten's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Joyce Van Patten?

American actress

When was Joyce Van Patten born?

Joyce Van Patten was born on 9 March 1934 in New York City.

What is Joyce Van Patten's occupation?

Joyce Van Patten is a television actor, film actor and stage actor.

What nationality is Joyce Van Patten?

Joyce Van Patten is American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Joyce Van Patten

· Wikidata: Q458441

· DBpedia: Joyce Van Patten

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Joyce Van Patten. https://biography.guide/joyce-van-patten/

MLA: "Joyce Van Patten." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/joyce-van-patten/.

Chicago: "Joyce Van Patten." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/joyce-van-patten/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-22 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

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