“Forgotten Hollywood”- Remembering Patty Duke…
Manny P. here…
Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke became a star as a child with the quality of her roles. By 8-years-old, she was largely under the control of husband-and-wife talent managers who kept her busy on soap operas and advertising displays. She overcame a troubled early life to become one of Hollywood’s most respected actresses, and as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 to 1988. Her rocket to fame was assured in the 1960s as the star of The Patty Duke Show, which ran for 104 episodes over three seasons, and earned her the first of many Emmy Award nominations. She eventually won three statuettes for her work in television. At one time, she was married to John Astin; and her sons, Sean and Mackenzie, also became actors.
Duke chose the grittiness of adulthood in the 1967 melodrama Valley of the Dolls, in which she played a showbiz hopeful who falls prey to drug addiction, a broken marriage, and her shattered dreams. The film, based on the best-selling Jacqueline Susann pulp novel, was critically slammed but a commercial sensation. Other screen parts include Prelude to a Kiss, 4-D Man, and The Swarm.
On television, Patty guest-starred on The Virginian, Night Gallery, Hawaii Five-0, Police Woman, Amazing Grace, Frasier, Touched by an Angel, Judging Amy, and Glee. She also starred in over 40 television movies, docu-dramas, and mini-series.
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1982, Duke opened up about her condition at a time when such candor was unusual, and she became an activist for mental health causes. In her 1988 memoir Call Me Anna, Patty Duke (left) wrote of her condition the diagnosis she had received, and of the subsequent treatment that helped stabilize her life. The book was adapted into a 1990 television film in which she starred. Duke became an activist, helping to de-stigmatize bipolar disorder. For her effort, the actress would earn several doctorates at universities.
She spent a great part of her career bringing sight and hearing disability issues, bipolar disorder, and mental health causes to the screen, which made her a very real-life champion. Patty Duke was 69.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 29th, 2016 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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