Beloved TV mum from the 60s passes away just days before her 92nd birthday

Television has lost one of its most beloved maternal figures. Patricia Crowley, the actress whose warmth and wit defined an era of family storytelling, passed away just three days before her 92nd birthday. For countless Australians, she will forever remain the mum who kept the Nash household together—chaos, sheepdog and all.

Patricia Crowley died on 14 September 2025 in Los Angeles of natural causes.

She was 91 and would have celebrated her 92nd birthday on 17 September.

Her son, Jon Hookstratten, an executive vice president at Sony Pictures, confirmed her passing to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

Born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, on 17 September 1933, Crowley pursued her acting dreams from a young age after moving to New York as a teenager.

She quickly rose to prominence, winning the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year in 1954 following her work in Forever Female and Money from Home.

That same year she appeared alongside Ginger Rogers in Forever Female and landed on the cover of Life magazine.

Her screen career stretched over six decades, spanning more than 100 film and television credits from 1950 to 2012.

Star of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies

For many Australians, Crowley was best remembered as Joan Nash in NBC’s Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, which ran from 1965 to 1967.

As the independent journalist and mother of four boisterous boys, Crowley played a character ahead of her time.

Unlike most television mothers of the era, Joan Nash balanced her newspaper career with family life—foreshadowing the more progressive depictions of women that would only become mainstream years later.

The show, based on Jean Kerr’s 1957 book and adapted into a Doris Day film before reaching television, became a cultural touchstone.

Viewers connected with the delightful mayhem of the Nash household, complete with a castle-like home and their mischievous sheepdog, Ladadog.

Hollywood beginnings

Her early career placed her alongside Hollywood icons such as Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, William Holden, and Ginger Rogers.

She featured in comedies like Money from Home in 1953 and the Oscar-nominated Red Garters in 1954.

Crowley went on to dominate soap opera screens, playing Mary Scanlon in over 250 episodes of Port Charles and appearing in Generations, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, and Falcon Crest.

She also graced prime-time series such as The Loretta Young Show, Maverick, Cheyenne, Rawhide, The Fugitive, The Twilight Zone, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Later television years

One of her most notable later appearances came in 1995, when she joined other television mums—including Isabel Sanford, Barbara Billingsley, Alley Mills, and June Lockhart—on a special episode of Roseanne celebrating TV’s most iconic maternal figures.

Beyond that, she continued to appear in fan favourites such as The Rockford Files, Columbo, Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hotel, Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Frasier, Charmed, and Murder, She Wrote.

Her final screen credit was in the 2012 film Mont Reve.

Family and legacy

Family was central throughout her life.

She was first married to entertainment attorney Ed Hookstratten, who represented stars such as Elvis Presley and Johnny Carson.

In 1986 she married television producer Andy Friendly, who survives her after nearly 40 years of marriage.

Along with her husband, she was survived by her daughter Ann, her son Jon, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

While remembering Patricia Crowley’s remarkable legacy, it’s hard not to think of the many other performers whose work left an enduring mark on film and television.

The industry has recently bid farewell to more familiar faces whose contributions shaped generations of storytelling and screen history.

Their stories serve as another reminder of how deeply actors become woven into the fabric of our own lives and memories.

Read more: Entertainment world mourns two actors who shaped film and television

Patricia Crowley’s passing closed the chapter on one of television’s most endearing legacies—her memory will forever remain in the laughter and love she brought to screens across generations. May she rest in peace.