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