Patty Duke

Acting · 1.5 popularity

Age

Movies

Born: December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016
From: Elmhurst, Queens, New York, United States

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.

Works

94 films

The Swarm

19785.0

The Miracle Worker

19627.9

Happy Anniversary

19596.5

Valley of the Dolls

19676.0

Amityville: The Evil Escapes

19894.6

Playboy: Sex at 24 Frames Per Second

20035.3

Prelude to a Kiss

19925.6

Billie

19655.0

Me, Natalie

19695.6

Love Finds A Home

20096.7

Willy/Milly

19865.4

A Killer Among Friends

19927.1

Something So Right

19825.9

A Season for Miracles

19997.0

Amazing Love

20126.6

Fatal Judgement

19887.0

When He Didn't Come Home

19985.2

Curse of the Black Widow

19775.2

Little John

20026.4

No Child of Mine

19935.0

4D Man

19595.8

Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby

19763.5

The Violation of Sarah McDavid

19814.5

Harvest of Fire

19965.8

The Power and the Glory

19639.0

Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive

19924.9

You'll Like My Mother

19726.3

Cries from the Heart

19946.0

Inside 'the Swarm'

19788.0

The Miracle Worker

19796.8

Absolute Strangers

1991

I Love Liberty

1982

Fire!

19777.1

The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights

199910.0

By Design

19824.7

When the Vows Break

19954.0

Kimberly

19994.5

Family of Strangers

19935.7

Last Wish

199210.0

The Goddess

19586.0

Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure

19896.0

Murder Without Conviction

20046.0

Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace

19887.1

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1

19999.0

A Christmas Memory

19975.9

Rosetti and Ryan: Men Who Love Women

197710.0

My Sweet Charlie

19706.8

The Daydreamer

19665.1

Always Remember I Love You

19908.0

Nightmare

19747.0

Two on a Bench

19716.3

A Family Upside Down

19787.0

Please Don't Hit Me, Mom

19836.5

The Divine Ms. Susann

2006

Unanswered Prayers

20103.0

Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door

20065.9

If Tomorrow Comes

19717.5

September Gun

19835.5

Before and After

19793.5

Killer on Board

19775.9

Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah

19967.0

Bigger Than the Sky

20055.4

Wuthering Heights

19588.0

Deadly Harvest

19728.0

Mom, the Wolfman and Me

19807.0

Hanging by a Thread

19796.6

The Women's Room

19804.4

Country Music Holiday

19586.0

The Dish on Dolls

2006

Fight for Life

19876.0

An American Girl

19587.0

One Woman's Courage

19945.5

The Storyteller

19779.0

The Babysitter

19805.7

Meet Me in St. Louis

19596.0

Call Me Anna

19905.0

Power of the Air

20184.0

She Waits

19725.9

To Face Her Past

19966.0

Journey to the Unknown

1969

Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage

19675.0

Swiss Family Robinson

195810.0

Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls

19678.0

A Time to Triumph

19868.0

Best Kept Secrets

19847.3

The Girl on the Edge of Town

1981

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

2006

Hard Day at Blue Nose

1974

Love Lessons

20007.0

Having Babies III

19784.8

George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation

1986

Miracle on the Mountain: The Kincaid Family Story

20014.5

Hitch-Hikers

19899.0

Birdbath

19717.0