Patricia Crowley, a television actress whose career stretched across six decades and included a leading role on the 1960s sitcom Please Don't Eat the Daisies, died Sunday in Los Angeles at the age of 91, her son Jon Hookstratten announced. The death came two days before what would have been her 92nd birthday.
Hookstratten, who is executive vice president of administration and operations at Sony Pictures, made the announcement to family and friends, according to the statement. Crowley is survived by her husband, producer Andy Friendly, whom she married in 1986.
Crowley was widely recognized for her portrayal of Joan Nash on Please Don't Eat the Daisies, which ran from 1965 to 1967. On the series she played a newspaper writer and the wife of Jim Nash, and the show focused on the family's domestic life raising four boisterous sons.
Across a career that lasted roughly 60 years, Crowley booked roles on a range of television dramas and comedies. Her credits included appearances on long-running series such as Dynasty, Hawaii Five-O and Columbo; she held recurring and regular roles on several of those programs during the 1980s and 1990s.
Crowley began acting in the mid-20th century and worked steadily in television at a time when the medium was expanding rapidly. She moved between genres, taking parts in both sitcoms and crime dramas, and was part of an era of performers who built lengthy careers through guest spots, recurring roles and occasional feature-film work.
Colleagues and industry references have long cited Crowley’s professionalism and steady presence on set. Outside of television, she also appeared in film and stage productions over the decades, sustaining a profile that continued through television syndication and reruns of classic series.
No public details about funeral or memorial services were released by the family as of Monday. Representatives declined to provide additional comment beyond the announcement made by Hookstratten.
Crowley’s passing marks the end of a steady, decades-long career in American television, during which she became best known to audiences for her work on Please Don't Eat the Daisies and for a string of notable supporting turns on high-profile series from the 1960s through the 1990s.