Tuesday, March 29, 2016

To Absent Friends - Patty Duke




Patty Duke
1946 - 2016

Very sad news arrived this afternoon with the death of actress Patty Duke at the age of 69.  One of the most talented young actresses of her generation, Duke won an Academy Award at the age of 16 when she played the young Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker" (1962), a role that she had originally played on Broadway.



She went on to star in a 1960's era TV show, "The Patty Duke Show" where she played cousins, identical cousins ("One pair of matching bookends, different as night and day").   And come on now, how many of you reading this who are of a certain age cannot sing the entire lyrics to that show's theme song?  Be honest now.


She also made news in the late sixties by attempting to smash her teen-age image and starred as a pill-popping alcoholic in 1967's awful "Valley of the Dolls".


She also served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 to 1988.

Duke continued to work as an actress up to the end, and IMDB lists 140 acting credits in both film and television.  

RIP Patty Duke.

1 comment:

  1. In the 60s, she was a good role model for girls close to her age. I was allowed to stay up late to watch The Patty Duke Show.

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