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Patty Duke
Acting
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…
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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.
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BODY OF WORK
Patty Duke's Filmography
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Power of the Air
as Charlene Summers
Amazing Love
as Helen
Unanswered Prayers
as Irene
Love Finds A Home
as Mary
Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls'
as Self / Neely O'Hara (archive footage)
The Dish on Dolls
as Neely O'Hara (archive footage)
No Poster
The Divine Ms. Susann
as Self (archive footage)
Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door
as Bridget Connolly
Bigger Than the Sky
as Mrs. Keene / Earlene
Murder Without Conviction
as Mother Joseph
Playboy: Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
as Self
Little John
as Sylvia
Miracle on the Mountain: The Kincaid Family Story
as Anne Kincaid
Love Lessons
as Sunny Andrews
A Season for Miracles
as Angel
Kimberly
as Dr. Feinstenberger
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights
as Patty Lane / Cathy Lane MacAllister
When He Didn't Come Home
as Faye Dolan
A Christmas Memory
as Sook
To Face Her Past
as Beth Bradfield
Harvest of Fire
as Annie Beiler
Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah
as Natalie Porter
When the Vows Break
as Barbara Parker
Cries from the Heart
as Terry
One Woman's Courage
as Grace McKenna
No Child of Mine
as Lucille Jenkins
Family of Strangers
as Beth Thompson
A Killer Among Friends
as Jean Monroe
Prelude to a Kiss
as Mrs. Boyle
Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive
as Jean Williams
Last Wish
as Betty Rollin
Absolute Strangers
as Judge Ray
Always Remember I Love You
as Ruth Monroe
Call Me Anna
as Anna Marie Duke/ Patty Duke
Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure
as Carolyn Henry
Amityville: The Evil Escapes
as Nancy Evans
Hitch-Hikers
No Poster
Fatal Judgement
as Anne Capute
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
as Althea Sloan
Fight for Life
as Shirley Abrams
Willy/Milly
as Doris Niceman
No Poster
George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation
as Martha Washington
A Time to Triumph
Best Kept Secrets
as Laura Dietz
September Gun
as Sister Dulcina
Please Don't Hit Me, Mom
as Barbara Reynolds
Something So Right
as Jeanne Bosnick
By Design
as Helen
I Love Liberty
as Self
The Violation of Sarah McDavid
as Sarah McDavid
The Girl on the Edge of Town
as Martha Swenson
The Babysitter
as Liz Benedict
Mom, the Wolfman and Me
as Deborah Bergman
The Women's Room
as Lily
The Miracle Worker
as Anne Sullivan
Before and After
as Carole Matthews
The Swarm
as Rita
A Family Upside Down
as Wendy
Having Babies III
as Leslee Wexler
Inside 'the Swarm'
as Self
The Storyteller
as Sue Davidoff
Killer on Board
as Norma Walsh
Curse of the Black Widow
as Laura Lockwood
Rosetti and Ryan: Men Who Love Women
as Sylvia Crawford
Fire!
as Dr. Peggy Wilson
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
as Rosemary Woodhouse
Hard Day at Blue Nose
as Adelaide
Nightmare
as Jan Richards
You'll Like My Mother
as Francesca Kinsolving
Deadly Harvest
as Jenny
She Waits
as Laura Wilson
If Tomorrow Comes
as Eileen Phillips
Two on a Bench
as Macy Kramer
Birdbath
as Velma Sparrow
My Sweet Charlie
as Marlene Chambers
Me, Natalie
as Natalie Miller
Journey to the Unknown
as Barbara King
Valley of the Dolls
as Neely O'Hara
Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage
as Interviewee
Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
The Daydreamer
as Thumbelina (voice)
Billie
as Billie
The Power and the Glory
as Coral
The Miracle Worker
as Helen Keller
4D Man
as Marjorie Sutherland
Meet Me in St. Louis
as Tootie Smith
Happy Anniversary
as Debbie Walters
No Poster
Swiss Family Robinson
as Lydia
The Goddess
as Emily Ann Faulkner (Child)
Wuthering Heights
as Young Cathy
Country Music Holiday
as "Sis" Brand
No Poster
An American Girl
as Augusta Davis