Monday, June 29, 2026

MacKenzie Astin, One of Patty Duke’s Actor Sons, Posts Touching Tribute to Charlotte Rae: “She was squishy”

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Mackenzie Astin, the acting brother of Sean and son of John Astin and Patty Duke, has posted this lovely remembrance of Charlotte Rae. He was 10 years old when he appeared on 21 episodes of “The Facts of Life.” He remembers her as being “squishy. Good squishy. Cookie dough squishy. It was comfortable in that embrace. Safe.”

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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