Patty Duke
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
146
Gender
Female
Birthday
1946-12-14
Day of death
2016-03-29 (69 years old)
Place of Birth
Elmhurst, Queens, New York, United States
Patty Duke
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.
Known For
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Hawaii Five-0
Frasier
The Mike Douglas Show
Glee
The Love Boat
The Love Boat
Golden Globe Awards
Tony Awards
Tony Awards
Hotel
Hawaii Five-O
The Virginian
The Merv Griffin Show
Judging Amy
Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel
The Dick Cavett Show
Drop Dead Diva
Intimate Portrait
Intimate Portrait
Good Day Live
Liv and Maddie
Liv and Maddie
Ben Casey
George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation
The Oscars
Night Gallery
The Ed Sullivan Show
Family Law
The Streets of San Francisco
Gotta Get Off This Merry-Go-Round: 'Valley of the Dolls'
Kraft Television Theatre
The Patty Duke Show
Ghost Story
Entertainment Tonight
Police Story
Amazing Love
4D Man
Deadly Harvest
The Torkelsons
Shindig!
The Daydreamer
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
Willy/Milly
Kimberly
Hitch-Hikers
The Goddess
Happy Anniversary
A Season for Miracles
Bigger Than the Sky
Billie
Little John
The Swarm
The Violation of Sarah McDavid
The Sixth Sense
Love Lessons
The Miracle Worker
Wuthering Heights
Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure
Two on a Bench
September Gun
Fatal Judgement
J.J. Starbuck
DuPont Show of the Month
Me, Natalie
Absolute Strangers
Prelude to a Kiss
She Waits
Last Wish
A Killer Among Friends
Valley of the Dolls
Journey to the Unknown
By Design
Love Finds A Home
The Babysitter
Call Me Anna
Captains and the Kings
Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door
Rosetti and Ryan: Men Who Love Women
When the Vows Break
Amityville: The Evil Escapes
Curse of the Black Widow
It Takes Two
Backstory
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Unanswered Prayers
I Love Liberty
The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights
No Child of Mine
Best Kept Secrets
Murder Without Conviction
Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive
A Family Upside Down
Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace
A Christmas Memory
The Miracle Worker
Before and After
Having Babies III
When He Didn't Come Home
Power of the Air
Journey to the Unknown
Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
The Power and the Glory
The Women's Room
My Sweet Charlie
Inside 'the Swarm'
Mom, the Wolfman and Me
George Washington
Amazing Grace
Cries from the Heart
Always Remember I Love You
A Time to Triumph
Fight for Life
Hanging by a Thread
Meet Me in St. Louis
Nightmare
George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation
Hail to the Chief
The Girl on the Edge of Town
First Years
Something So Right
You'll Like My Mother
The Perry Como Show
If Tomorrow Comes
Birdbath
Please Don't Hit Me, Mom
One Woman's Courage
Karen's Song
Valley of the Dolls: A World Premiere Voyage
A Matter of Justice
To Face Her Past
Women in White
Harvest of Fire
Killer on Board
Fire!
Family of Strangers
Miracle on the Mountain: The Kincaid Family Story
The Storyteller
Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls
Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah
An American Girl
Hard Day at Blue Nose
Swiss Family Robinson
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
