Patty Duke
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.
144 acting credits
Acting · 144
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
Hawaii Five-0
2010
Frasier
1993
The Mike Douglas Show
1961
Golden Globe Awards
1944
The Love Boat
1977
Glee
2009
Hawaii Five-O
1968
Judging Amy
1999
The Virginian
1962
Hotel
1982
Touched by an Angel
1994
Tony Awards
1956
The Merv Griffin Show
1962
Ben Casey
1961
Drop Dead Diva
2009
The Dick Cavett Show
1968
Night Gallery
1970
Intimate Portrait
1993
Family Law
1999
The Oscars
1953
The Streets of San Francisco
1972
Good Day Live
2001
Liv and Maddie
2013
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
Police Story
1973
Kraft Television Theatre
1947
Ghost Story
1972
The Patty Duke Show
1963
The Torkelsons
1991
Entertainment Tonight
1981
DuPont Show of the Month
1957
The Sixth Sense
1972
Shindig!
1964
Journey to the Unknown
1968
J.J. Starbuck
1987
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
Captains and the Kings
1976
It Takes Two
1982
George Washington
1984
George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation
1986
The Miracle Worker
1962
Hail to the Chief
1985
The Swarm
1978
Backstory
2000
Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
2003
Valley of the Dolls
1967
Curse of the Black Widow
1977
First Years
2001
Me, Natalie
1969
Women in White
1979
Prelude to a Kiss
1992
Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure
1989
Love Finds A Home
2009
A Matter of Justice
1993
Amityville: The Evil Escapes
1989
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
1999
The Goddess
1958
A Killer Among Friends
1992
A Family Upside Down
1978
Little John
2002
Willy/Milly
1986
Amazing Grace
1995
Karen's Song
1987
Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive
1992
The Perry Como Show
1956
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
1976
Amazing Love
2012
Happy Anniversary
1959
I Love Liberty
1982
Kimberly
1999
The Daydreamer
1966
Murder Without Conviction
2004
Before and After
1979
Something So Right
1982
Wuthering Heights
1958
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
1988
4D Man
1959
Family of Strangers
1993
George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation
1986
To Face Her Past
1996
The Violation of Sarah McDavid
1981
Always Remember I Love You
1990
Hanging by a Thread
1979
Billie
1965
The Women's Room
1980
The Miracle Worker
1979
Miracle on the Mountain: The Kincaid Family Story
2001
Best Kept Secrets
1984
Fire!
1977
Please Don't Hit Me, Mom
1983
Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door
2006
One Woman's Courage
1994
Two on a Bench
1971
A Season for Miracles
1999
A Christmas Memory
1997
The Power and the Glory
1963
If Tomorrow Comes
1971
Unanswered Prayers
2010
Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah
1996
No Child of Mine
1993
The Storyteller
1977
Bigger Than the Sky
2005
Inside 'the Swarm'
1978
Swiss Family Robinson
1958
Nightmare
1974
Meet Me in St. Louis
1959
Deadly Harvest
1972
You'll Like My Mother
1972
Having Babies III
1978
She Waits
1972
When He Didn't Come Home
1998
Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage
1967
Country Music Holiday
1958
When the Vows Break
1995
Journey to the Unknown
1969
Hanging by a Thread
1979
September Gun
1983
Last Wish
1992
The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights
1999
Rosetti and Ryan: Men Who Love Women
1977
Cries from the Heart
1994
Killer on Board
1977
Fatal Judgement
1988
Call Me Anna
1990
Fight for Life
1987
Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls'
2006
Mom, the Wolfman and Me
1980
Harvest of Fire
1996
My Sweet Charlie
1970
Absolute Strangers
1991
An American Girl
1958
A Time to Triumph
1986
The Babysitter
1980
By Design
1982
Hitch-Hikers
1989
The Girl on the Edge of Town
1981
Birdbath
1971
Love Lessons
2000
Power of the Air
2018
Hard Day at Blue Nose
1974
The Dish on Dolls
2006
Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
1967
The Divine Ms. Susann
2006