Patty
Duke, former child star and Academy Award winner for her performance as
Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker," has died at age 69. "Anna 'Patty …
Patty Duke dies
Patty Duke dies at 69; former child star and Academy Award winner
Patty Duke, former child star and Academy Award winner for her performance as Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker," has died at 69.
"This morning, our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, matriarch and the exquisite artist, humanitarian, and champion for mental health, Anna 'PATTY DUKE' Pearce, closed her eyes, quieted her pain and ascended to a beautiful place," son and actor Sean Astin posted to his Facebook page. "We celebrate the infinite love and compassion she shared through her work and throughout her life."
The actress died at 1:20 a.m. "Her cause of death was sepsis from a ruptured intestine" in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, Duke's manager said in a statement Tuesday morning.
Duke’s life was marked with both success and struggle, with the earliest years of her life marred by an alcoholic father and a violently depressive mother. From the time she was 8, Duke was raised by talent managers John and Ethel Ross. In her memoir “Call Me Anna,” Duke revealed that the Rosses left her little control over her career or life and began supplying her with alcohol and prescription medication when she was 13.
In 1959, Duke debuted as Helen Keller in the Broadway production of “The Miracle Worker” with Anne Bancroft. The play later was adapted into a film that earned Duke the Academy Award for supporting actress. At the time, Duke was 16 and the youngest person to receive an Oscar in a competitive category.
“It seems like a dream,” she told The Times in 1963 after her Oscar win. “I’m still not sure if it happened. When they announced it, I just sat there. I couldn’t move.”
Duke had already won acclaim for the role onstage. She noted that had she grown faster, she might never have had the opportunity to play the role of the young Keller, who could not see, speak or hear after a childhood illness. Duke said a clause in her contract when she took the role in 1959 allowed the producers to cut her if she grew 2 inches.
She said it felt “wonderful to be an Oscar winner -- at any age.” She added: “But I don’t think it will change things for me, personally. I’m still just one of the kids.”
Duke debuted on “The Patty Duke Show” in 1963, in which she played both main characters Patricia “Patty” Lane, all-American teenager, and Catherine “Cathy” Lane, her identical cousin from Scotland.
“Patty was very embarrassing to me,” the 66-year-old told The Times in 2013. “They would write those outrageous things for her to do. I would dive in and do it, but I couldn’t wait to get to Cathy. She was sensible, and I’d like to think she was classy.”
The show had a slightly surreal concept and a catchy theme song — “Where Cathy adores a minuet / the Ballet Russes and crêpes suzette / our Patty loves to rock and roll / a hot dog makes her lose control — what a wild duet!” It also boasted such guest stars as Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Frankie Avalon, Sal Mineo and the British pop duo Chad and Jeremy.
Despite Duke’s conflicted feelings about “The Patty Duke Show,” she eventually found peace with the role, she told the Times in 2002.
"When you walk down the street and a total stranger sings a 40-year-old theme to you, you go, 'Someone was paying attention.' I love it! Strangers nod and smile or call out, 'I love you,'" Duke said. "What a nice way to go through life. Other people don't even say 'excuse me' to other people, and a total stranger is sending me love vibes."
After her successful stint as Patty and Cathy Lane on television, Duke tried to transition back to film with a controversial performance as Neely O’Hara in “Valley of the Dolls,” in which the actress portrayed an alcoholic, drug-addled star.
In addition to being an actress, Duke also was a fierce advocate for mental illness awareness, after her own diagnosis with bipolar disorder in 1982. Duke credited medication and therapy for helping her recovery; she was the first celebrity, via her 1987 autobiography, to make her struggle with bipolar disorder public.
Duke had said she was grateful for her close relationships with son and “The Lord of the Rings” star Sean Astin, 45, and his actor brother, Mackenzie Astin, 42, despite the rough childhood to which she subjected them before her illness was diagnosed. Her family called her Anna Banana. After Sean had his own children, she became Nana Anna Banana.
“I had no patience,” she admitted to The Times. “This was not all the time. The thing that these kids had going against them was that you never knew when what was all hunky-dory was going to fly out the window and you were going to be screamed at and berated and either ostracized or made to do some humiliating punishment.”
The actress was also stepmother to her fourth husband Michael Pearce's daughters, Charlene, a genetic researcher, and Raelene, who drowned in a 1998 car accident at age 22. In 1988, Pearce and Duke adopted a son, Kevin, who became a firefighter.
Now her son Sean hopes his mother's mental health advocacy continues after her passing. “Before the suffering became too great, we talked about how the core mission of her mental health work might continue beyond her life,” Sean said in the introduction to a newly launched Crowdrise campaign in his mother’s honor, the proceeds of which will be used to establish the Patty Duke Mental Health Initiative, dedicated to continuing support of mental health programs.
Of his mother, Sean said, “She became a voice for the voiceless, a reassuring presence for the scared, the intimidated and the lost. She was a healer of many souls and a champion for so many in need.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
Patty Duke looks back on 'The Patty Duke Show'
Patty Duke was a child star on screen, but a late bloomer on stage"This morning, our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, matriarch and the exquisite artist, humanitarian, and champion for mental health, Anna 'PATTY DUKE' Pearce, closed her eyes, quieted her pain and ascended to a beautiful place," son and actor Sean Astin posted to his Facebook page. "We celebrate the infinite love and compassion she shared through her work and throughout her life."
The actress died at 1:20 a.m. "Her cause of death was sepsis from a ruptured intestine" in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, Duke's manager said in a statement Tuesday morning.
Duke’s life was marked with both success and struggle, with the earliest years of her life marred by an alcoholic father and a violently depressive mother. From the time she was 8, Duke was raised by talent managers John and Ethel Ross. In her memoir “Call Me Anna,” Duke revealed that the Rosses left her little control over her career or life and began supplying her with alcohol and prescription medication when she was 13.
In 1959, Duke debuted as Helen Keller in the Broadway production of “The Miracle Worker” with Anne Bancroft. The play later was adapted into a film that earned Duke the Academy Award for supporting actress. At the time, Duke was 16 and the youngest person to receive an Oscar in a competitive category.
“It seems like a dream,” she told The Times in 1963 after her Oscar win. “I’m still not sure if it happened. When they announced it, I just sat there. I couldn’t move.”
Duke had already won acclaim for the role onstage. She noted that had she grown faster, she might never have had the opportunity to play the role of the young Keller, who could not see, speak or hear after a childhood illness. Duke said a clause in her contract when she took the role in 1959 allowed the producers to cut her if she grew 2 inches.
She said it felt “wonderful to be an Oscar winner -- at any age.” She added: “But I don’t think it will change things for me, personally. I’m still just one of the kids.”
Duke debuted on “The Patty Duke Show” in 1963, in which she played both main characters Patricia “Patty” Lane, all-American teenager, and Catherine “Cathy” Lane, her identical cousin from Scotland.
“Patty was very embarrassing to me,” the 66-year-old told The Times in 2013. “They would write those outrageous things for her to do. I would dive in and do it, but I couldn’t wait to get to Cathy. She was sensible, and I’d like to think she was classy.”
The show had a slightly surreal concept and a catchy theme song — “Where Cathy adores a minuet / the Ballet Russes and crêpes suzette / our Patty loves to rock and roll / a hot dog makes her lose control — what a wild duet!” It also boasted such guest stars as Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Frankie Avalon, Sal Mineo and the British pop duo Chad and Jeremy.
Despite Duke’s conflicted feelings about “The Patty Duke Show,” she eventually found peace with the role, she told the Times in 2002.
"When you walk down the street and a total stranger sings a 40-year-old theme to you, you go, 'Someone was paying attention.' I love it! Strangers nod and smile or call out, 'I love you,'" Duke said. "What a nice way to go through life. Other people don't even say 'excuse me' to other people, and a total stranger is sending me love vibes."
After her successful stint as Patty and Cathy Lane on television, Duke tried to transition back to film with a controversial performance as Neely O’Hara in “Valley of the Dolls,” in which the actress portrayed an alcoholic, drug-addled star.
In addition to being an actress, Duke also was a fierce advocate for mental illness awareness, after her own diagnosis with bipolar disorder in 1982. Duke credited medication and therapy for helping her recovery; she was the first celebrity, via her 1987 autobiography, to make her struggle with bipolar disorder public.
Duke had said she was grateful for her close relationships with son and “The Lord of the Rings” star Sean Astin, 45, and his actor brother, Mackenzie Astin, 42, despite the rough childhood to which she subjected them before her illness was diagnosed. Her family called her Anna Banana. After Sean had his own children, she became Nana Anna Banana.
“I had no patience,” she admitted to The Times. “This was not all the time. The thing that these kids had going against them was that you never knew when what was all hunky-dory was going to fly out the window and you were going to be screamed at and berated and either ostracized or made to do some humiliating punishment.”
The actress was also stepmother to her fourth husband Michael Pearce's daughters, Charlene, a genetic researcher, and Raelene, who drowned in a 1998 car accident at age 22. In 1988, Pearce and Duke adopted a son, Kevin, who became a firefighter.
Now her son Sean hopes his mother's mental health advocacy continues after her passing. “Before the suffering became too great, we talked about how the core mission of her mental health work might continue beyond her life,” Sean said in the introduction to a newly launched Crowdrise campaign in his mother’s honor, the proceeds of which will be used to establish the Patty Duke Mental Health Initiative, dedicated to continuing support of mental health programs.
Of his mother, Sean said, “She became a voice for the voiceless, a reassuring presence for the scared, the intimidated and the lost. She was a healer of many souls and a champion for so many in need.”
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
Patty Duke looks back on 'The Patty Duke Show'
Our 1962 review of Patty Duke’s Oscar-winning performance: A ‘Miracle’ Picture? Seeing Is Believing
Follow Libby Hill on Twitter @midwestspitfire
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