
Patty Duke
Biography
Anna Marie Duke (December 14, 1946 - March 29, 2016), known professionally as Patty Duke, was an American actress. Beginning her acting career in commercials and playing bit parts in television and movies, her breakthrough role was as Helen Keller in the Broadway version of "The Miracle Worker" (1959 - 1961). For the 1962 film adaptation, Duke reprised her role, which won the Academy Award for best supporting actress - at age 16, she was the youngest person ever to win an Oscar (a record later broken by Tatum O'Neal in 1973). Other early films included Billie (1965), Valley of the Dolls (1967), and Me, Natalie (1969). On television, Duke starred in the popular teen sitcom The Patty Duke Show (1963 - 1966), playing a dual role and garnering the first of ten Emmy nominations. She won Emmys for her roles in television film My Sweet Charlie (1970), miniseries Captains and the Kings (1976), and the 1979 TV movie version of The Miracle Worker (1979), this time portraying Annie Sullivan. She served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 - 1988.
Off-screen, Duke's life was often tumultuous. Born in Elmhurst, New York, to Frances Margaret (McMahon), a cashier, and John Patrick Duke, a cab driver and handyman, her acting career began at age eight when she was turned over to her brother Ray Duke's managers, John and Ethel Ross, who changed her name and engaged in exploitative behavior. Duke was married four times: to director Harry Falk from 1965 - 1969; to writer Michael Tell in 1970 (with whom she became mother to actor Sean Astin); to actor John Astin from 1972 - 1985 (with who she became mother to actress Mackenzie Astin); and to drill sergeant Michael Pearce from 1986 until her death (with whom she had two stepdaughters and an adopted son Kevin). In 1982, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which was the subject of her second book, "A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depression Illness" (1992). Duke was also a political advocate for issues such as the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), AIDS awareness, and nuclear disarmament. She died on March 29, 2016, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, of sepsis from a ruptured intestine.
Acting (87 movies)

The Miracle Worker
1962

Valley of the Dolls
1967

The Goddess
1958

Prelude to a Kiss
1992

Hitch-Hikers
1989

Love Finds A Home
2009

I Love Liberty
1982

Willy/Milly
1986

The Swarm
1978

Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive
1992

Billie
1965

Happy Anniversary
1959

Fire!
1977

A Christmas Memory
1997

Amazing Love
2012

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
1999

Call Me Anna
1990

Little John
2002

Inside 'the Swarm'
1978

You'll Like My Mother
1972

The Power and the Glory
1963

When He Didn't Come Home
1998

Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah
1996

Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
1976

Journey to the Unknown
1969

Me, Natalie
1969

Family of Strangers
1993

Best Kept Secrets
1984

Miracle on the Mountain: The Kincaid Family Story
2001

Two on a Bench
1971

If Tomorrow Comes
1971

Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
1988

The Miracle Worker
1979

My Sweet Charlie
1970

Love Lessons
2000

The Daydreamer
1966

The Women's Room
1980

A Family Upside Down
1978

Amityville: The Evil Escapes
1989

Hanging by a Thread
1979

A Killer Among Friends
1992

Fight for Life
1987

Killer on Board
1977

The Babysitter
1980

Birdbath
1971

Rosetti and Ryan: Men Who Love Women
1977

The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights
1999

Harvest of Fire
1996

The Violation of Sarah McDavid
1981

Last Wish
1992

By Design
1982

Absolute Strangers
1991

When the Vows Break
1995

She Waits
1972

Kimberly
1999

Please Don't Hit Me, Mom
1983

The Girl on the Edge of Town
1981

The Storyteller
1977

Cries from the Heart
1994

A Season for Miracles
1999

Always Remember I Love You
1990

4D Man
1959

Curse of the Black Widow
1977

Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door
2006

To Face Her Past
1996

One Woman's Courage
1994

September Gun
1983

No Child of Mine
1993

Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage
1967

Hard Day at Blue Nose
1974

Meet Me in St. Louis
1959

Before and After
1979

Bigger Than the Sky
2005

A Time to Triumph
1986

Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
2003

Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure
1989

Unanswered Prayers
2012

Having Babies III
1978

Wuthering Heights
1958

Power of the Air
2018

Nightmare
1974

Murder Without Conviction
2004

Deadly Harvest
1972

Mom, the Wolfman and Me
1980

Something So Right
1982

Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls'
2006

Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
1967
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