This article is about the fictional character. Patti Tate was also the youngest sister of murdered actress Sharon Tate

Sharon Tate

Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...

.

Patricia Tate Whiting McCleary (née Barron), often called Patti Tate, was a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 on the now-cancelled American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Search for Tomorrow

Search for Tomorrow

Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...

. She was played by numerous actresses over the years, including Tina Sloan

Tina Sloan

Tina Sloan is an American actress.Sloan attended The Ursuline School and Manhattanville College. Sloan studied acting with Bob McAndrew and Warren Robertson...

 and Jacqueline Schultz

Jacqueline Schultz

Jacqueline Schultz is a film and television actress-Career:In addition to her recurring roles on two television soap operas — as Dee Stewart on As the World Turns ; and as the last Patti Tate on Search for Tomorrow — Schultz has appeared in over twenty-five other television productions, including...

 (who played her at the show's end), but actresses Lynn Loring

Lynn Loring

Lynn Loring is an American actress and producer.She first started acting at the age of seven, playing the role of Patti Barron on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She played the role until 1961, when she graduated from high school and explored other opportunities...

 and Leigh Lassen

Leigh Lassen

Leigh Lassen is an American actress, best known for her role as Patti Tate on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, from 1968 to 1975. While the ninth actress to play the role, she is one of the actresses who is most closely identified with it....

 are perhaps most identified with the role.

Jo's daughter

Patti was the daughter of Joanne Gardner

Joanne Gardner

Joanne Gardner was the main character on the long-running soap opera Search for Tomorrow. For 35 years, the role was played by actress Mary Stuart...

 and her first husband, Keith Barron (John Sylvester White

John Sylvester White

John Sylvester White was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-born American actor.He was best known for his starring role as "Keith Barron" on the television soap opera Search for Tomorrow from 1951 to 1952, and many years later, to a different generation as the crabby, diminutive high school...

). After Keith had died in a car accident, Jo began to make a home for herself, knowing that she had a young daughter to raise. Patti had been a target of Keith's mother, Irene Barron, who tried to sue Jo for custody, but failed, and then tried to kidnap her.

She had a best friend in Janet Bergman

Janet Bergman Collins

Janet Gardner Walton Collins is a fictional character in the now-defunct American soap opera, Search for Tomorrow. She was played by several actresses including actresses Ellen Spencer, who originated the role in 1951, and Fran Sharon, but actress Millee Taggart is most identified in the role...

, her next door neighbor, and the daughter of Stu

Stu Bergman

Stu Bergman was a fictional character in the now-cancelled American soap opera, Search for Tomorrow. The part was played for almost all of the show's 35 years by the late Larry Haines.- Jo's best friend :...

 and Marge Bergman

Marge Bergman

Marge Bergman was a character in the now-cancelled American soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She was played by actress Melba Rae until her death in 1971....

.

When Jo married her second husband, Arthur Tate, he adopted Patti, giving her his last name. She had met and fallen in love with Dr. Len Whiting, a very weak man, who was a doctor, and she was hated by his mother, Andrea Whiting

Andrea Whiting

Andrea Whiting, played by actress Joan Copeland was a fictional character, on the cancelled American Soap opera Search for Tomorrow.Andrea was the spiteful former wife of Sam Reynolds, who had fallen in love with Joanne Gardner. Her daughter, Patti Tate fell for Andrea's son, Dr. Len Whiting. Len...

 (Joan Copeland

Joan Copeland

Joan Copeland is an American actress and the younger sister of celebrated playwright Arthur Miller. She began her career appearing in theatre in New York City during the mid 1940s. She moved into television and film during the 1950s while still maintaining an active stage career...

). However, Andrea had hidden from Len that he was the son of Sam Reynolds, who, by this time, was seeing Patti's mother, Jo. (Arthur having died of a heart attack) Andrea was hateful due to the heavy guilt she had over the death of Len's twin brother.

Patti continued to work as a nurse at Henderson Hospital, and when she went through a difficult pregnancy after giving birth to Sarah. Patti also had two other children (Possibly via Len or someone else), Chris and Tracey, although there history with Patti & Jo were totally ignored by the powers that be for Search For Tomorrow.

Later, she was to work with an assigned nurse named, Stephanie Wilkins

Stephanie Wilkins

Stephanie Wilkins Collins Pace Wyatt was a fictional character on the long-running American Soap Opera Search for Tomorrow. She was played from 1974 to 1984 by actress Maree Cheatham and from 1984 to 1986 by actress and writer Louise Shaffer....

, who would later on become her mother's adversary. After Len had committed a crime, he and Patti left for Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

in 1978 and so did his mother, Andrea, now more caring and sympathetic.

Seven years later on Christmas Day in 1985, Patti (now played by Jacqueline Schultz) returned to Henderson to help her mother, and had explained that after mourning the death of their daughter Sarah (Michelle Joyner), she and Len had divorced while they were in Seattle.

In 1986, She had fallen in love with Hogan McCleary and had married him on the final episode of Search for Tomorrow.