Patty Duke

Acting · 1.6 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

Happy Anniversary

19596.5

Valley of the Dolls

19676.0

The Miracle Worker

19627.9

Willy/Milly

19865.4

Playboy: Sex at 24 Frames Per Second

20035.3

Amityville: The Evil Escapes

19894.6

Prelude to a Kiss

19925.6

Me, Natalie

19695.6

Billie

19655.0

A Killer Among Friends

19927.0

Fatal Judgement

19887.0

4D Man

19595.8

Something So Right

19825.9

Love Finds A Home

20096.7

No Child of Mine

19935.0

A Season for Miracles

19997.0

You'll Like My Mother

19726.3

When He Didn't Come Home

19985.2

Amazing Love

20126.6

The Violation of Sarah McDavid

19814.5

The Goddess

19586.0

Curse of the Black Widow

19775.2

The Power and the Glory

19639.0

Harvest of Fire

19965.8

By Design

19824.7

The Miracle Worker

19796.8

Always Remember I Love You

19908.0

Last Wish

199210.0

Kimberly

19994.5

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1

19999.0

If Tomorrow Comes

19717.5

Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby

19763.5

Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure

19896.0

Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace

19887.1

Absolute Strangers

1991

The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights

199910.0

Little John

20026.4

Nightmare

19747.0

Murder Without Conviction

20046.0

September Gun

19835.5

Inside 'the Swarm'

19788.0

I Love Liberty

1982

Fire!

19777.1

A Family Upside Down

19787.0

Family of Strangers

19935.7

My Sweet Charlie

19706.8

Please Don't Hit Me, Mom

19836.5

Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door

20065.9

Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive

19924.9

Wuthering Heights

19588.0

A Christmas Memory

19975.9

Rosetti and Ryan: Men Who Love Women

197710.0

Cries from the Heart

19946.0

Unanswered Prayers

20103.0

To Face Her Past

19966.0

Best Kept Secrets

19847.3

The Women's Room

19804.4

Bigger Than the Sky

20055.4

Two on a Bench

19716.3

When the Vows Break

19954.0

The Daydreamer

19665.1

Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah

19967.0

Fight for Life

19876.0

Before and After

19793.5

The Divine Ms. Susann

2006

One Woman's Courage

19945.5

Hanging by a Thread

19796.6

Country Music Holiday

19586.0

She Waits

19725.9

Mom, the Wolfman and Me

19807.0

The Storyteller

19779.0

Deadly Harvest

19728.0

Swiss Family Robinson

195810.0

Call Me Anna

19905.0

Meet Me in St. Louis

19596.0

An American Girl

19587.0

The Babysitter

19805.7

Killer on Board

19775.9

A Time to Triumph

19868.0

Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage

19675.0

Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls

19678.0

Power of the Air

20184.0

Love Lessons

20007.0

Journey to the Unknown

1969

The Dish on Dolls

2006

George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation

1986

Miracle on the Mountain: The Kincaid Family Story

20014.5

Hard Day at Blue Nose

1974

Having Babies III

19784.8

The Girl on the Edge of Town

1981

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

2006

Hitch-Hikers

19899.0

Birdbath

19717.0