Anna Marie "Patty" Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016) was an American actress of stage, film, and television.
Born Anna Marie Duke on 14 December 1946, she was one of three children and had a difficult childhood, with her mother ![]()
putting two talent agents in charge of her care when she was just 8 years old. She quickly found success working in both film and television before getting her big break at the age of 13 when she originated the role of Keller on Broadway opposite Anne Bancroft, who played Keller's teacher Annie Sullivan.
putting two talent agents in charge of her care when she was just 8 years old. She quickly found success working in both film and television before getting her big break at the age of 13 when she originated the role of Keller on Broadway opposite Anne Bancroft, who played Keller's teacher Annie Sullivan.The play ran for two years before being made into a film, in which Bancroft starred and also received an Academy Award. Duke became the youngest actor to ever receive an Oscar when she picked up the award for Best Supporting Actress.
Having conquered the worlds of Broadway and film, Duke set her sights on television next when she accepted the offer to star in The Patty Duke Show, a sitcom that had been created as a star vehicle for the actress. She was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her duel role on the show playing both a fun-loving American teenager living in Brooklyn (Patty) and her far more refined and proper look-alike cousin (Cathy).In the show, which ran for 104 episodes from 1963 to 1966, Duke did double duty as two identical but very different cousins, one American and the other English. She was the youngest actor to have a TV series bearing her name.
While most people think of her as an actor, she also had a recording career that began in 1965 with a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100: "Don't Just Stand There" peaked at No. 8 in August of that year. The single was released just as the second season of The Patty Duke Show was signing off for the summer. Signed to the United
Artists label, Duke recorded several albums, but only one appeared on the Billboard 200.Duke originated the role of Keller in The Miracle Worker onstage in her Broadway debut, before making the film adaptation. For the part, Duke is said to have rehearsed with a blindfold for roughly a year. She revisited the material in 1979 for a TV version of the play, for which she won an Emmy playing Keller’s teacher – the role originally played on Broadway by Anne Bancroft.
In 1982, the actor was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Soon after, she became an advocate for mental health issues, working extensively with the National Institute of Mental Health and the ![]()
National Alliance on Mental Illness.
National Alliance on Mental Illness.She documented her struggle in her 1987 autobiography, Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke. In the book, Duke also alleged that her managers, when she was a child star, had sexually abused her and squandered her earnings. As a result, she said, she began drinking and abusing prescription drugs as a teenager.
Over the course of her life, she was married four times and raised three sons, two of whom – Sean and Mackenzie Astin – also became actors.
Duke remained active in TV throughout the 1990s and 2000s. She appeared in a slew of TV movies and toplined several short-lived series including ABC’s 1985 effort “Hail to the Chief,” in which she played the first female president; “Karen’s Song,” an early Fox network series in 1987; and NBC’s “Amazing Grace,” which aired in 1995. Her recent TV appearances included guest shots on “Glee,” “Drop Dead Diva,” “Hawaii 5-0” and “Liv and Maddie.” On August 17, 2004, Duke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the motion picture industry.
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She died on the morning of March 29, 2016 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho of sepsis from a ruptured intestine at the age of 69. (Info edited mainly from the Guardian obit)
From 1966, the Roger Miller tune "England Swings" gets a go-go booted makeover, complete with some snippets of the tunes "Rule, Britannia!,""Country Gardens" (aka "English Country Garden") and "London Bridge Is Falling Down."