Eddie Applegate

Edward Robert Applegate was born on October 4, 1935, in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, and died on October 17, 2016, at a nursing home in Los Angeles following a long illness. An American actor, he worked across stage, film, and television, with his most prominent recognition coming from his television work in the 1960s.

Applegate began his stage career at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and went on to spend more than eight seasons in stock theater, working both winter and summer productions primarily along the East Coast. His stage work included the role of Hugo Peabody in the national touring production of Bye Bye Birdie, and he appeared on Broadway in that same musical in 1961.

His film debut came in A Ticklish Affair in 1963. That same year, he began what would become his most recognized role: Richard Harrison, the boyfriend of Patty Lane, on the ABC sitcom The Patty Duke Show. He appeared in the role across somewhere between 70 and 88 of the show's 104 episodes, with the series running from 1963 to 1966. During the same decade, Applegate also played Bob Mooney on The Lucy Show and Willie Maxwell, a reporter, on Nancy, and made single-episode appearances on programs including Daktari and Gunsmoke.

In 1999, Applegate returned to the role of Richard Harrison in the reunion television film The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights, in which the character appeared as Patty Lane's ex-husband. That same year, he was featured on an episode of E! Entertainment Television's Celebrity Profile. In the 2000s, he took on minor film roles in productions including Exorcism (2003) and Welcome to September (2005), and in 2009 he played Henry in the indie thriller Rain From Stars, written by Stephen Wallis and released in the United States in 2013.

As his television career diminished, Applegate devoted increasing time to painting, a hobby he had originally taken up as a way to relax during his working years in television. He described his style as ranging from Realist to Impressionist. He was an active member of the San Fernando Valley Art Club and served as its vice president, living in Chatsworth, California with his common law wife Betty.

Applegate married Tanya Maniatty in 1967. They had three children — Heather, Michael, and John — and divorced in 1986. His death in October 2016 was the third among the principal cast of The Patty Duke Show that year, following the deaths of Patty Duke on March 29 and William Schallert on May 8.