December 14: Happy Birthday Patty Duke

[TMC]

https://lebeauleblog.com/2016/12/14/...nd-patty-duke/

The late Patty Duke (1946-2016), who passed earlier this year, achieved her greatest fame while still a teenager. She originated the role of Helen Keller on Broadway in William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker in 1959, and then reprised the role in the 1962 feature film. Duke won Best Supporting Actress for the role (her costar Anne Bancroft won Best Actress as Annie Sullivan). At the time she was the youngest winner ever of an acting Oscar. ABC then made her the star of a TV series, The Patty Duke Show, where she played a dual role as Patty Lane, a typical American teen (early 1960s variety) and her “identical cousin” Cathy, a brainy and sophisticated girl raised in Scotland.


After her series ended its run, Duke transitioned to adult roles with a lead role in the film version of Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls. She won a Golden Globe for starring in the film Me, Natalie in 1969, and won three Primetime Emmys, all for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie. The third was for a 1979 TV movie of The Miracle Worker, where she played Annie Sullivan opposite Melissa Gilbert as Helen Keller.

In the 1980s, as she continued her acting career, Duke also became an advocate on mental health issues (having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the early eighties). Her final acting role, interestingly, was a guest role on Liv and Maddie, another series featuring a young lead actress (Dove Cameron) in a dual role.[/quote]