A Look Back at the Tragic Death of Child Star Todd Starke ('The Doris Day Show'): 4 Decades Later

Doris Day with TV sons Philip Brown (left) and Todd Starke (right), who died in 1983.Photo byPinterest.com

The Doris Day Show, which originally aired on CBS from 1968 to 1971, remains one of the last great TV family sitcoms in history. The series is also known for its various format changes through the series.

In the first few seasons, the sitcom featured Day's Doris Martin character a widow who lived with her father, played by Denver Pyle, and her two young sons played by Philip Brown and Todd Starke.

In later seasons, Martin moved from a farm close to San Francisco to the city itself. There, she worked for a popular magazine and had two different supervisors. First, her boss was played by McClean Stevenson, and then by John Dehner. Her best friend in the Stevenson years was played by Rose Marie; in the Dehner seasons, it was Jackie Joseph (then married to actor Ken Berry of Mayberry RFD).

Also, in the later seasons, Martin's sons and father were ultimately nowhere to be seen, and she became a career-minded woman (inspired by The Mary Tyler Moore Show on the same network).

Save for Philip Brown, the show's entire cast has since passed away, sadly beginning with Brown's younger TV brother, Todd Starke.

A Closer Look

Born on December 19, 1961, as Todd Thomas Starke, the young actor was disappointed after his character was no longer on The Doris Day Show.

After his role on the series ended, Starke made a few other TV appearances such as Adam-12, and The Second Hundred Years. Starke also appeared on the big screen in the 1969 family comedy, Angel in My Pocket, starring Andy Griffith.

However, Starke eventually opted to quit acting. Then on May 4, 1983, when he was only 21 years old, the actor was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident.

It was a sad ending to what could have been a promising and talented actor who never had the chance to live a full life as an adult.