Patty Duke, winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1962's The Miracle Worker, and star of the early 1960s sitcom, The Patty Duke Show, has died at the age of 69 of sepsis.
The woman born as Anna Marie Duke had a varied career after those early roles. She revealed her bi-polar disorder (diagnosed in 1982) in her 1987 autobiography, Call Me Anna.
Some scoffed at her 1960s sitcom for its unrealistic premise, that of identical twin cousins. (This was during a TV era which gave us such "realistic" shows as Mister Ed, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie.) This premise didn't keep Miss Duke from being nominated for an Emmy!
Thanks for your time.
P.S. -- Some of my regulars may be wondering how I'll handle any celebrity deaths during the month of April. Any memorial notices that I see fit to include will be added to April's daily A to Z Challenge entries.
There are many celebs who've passed this past week. Heard of her and her show, but never watched it.
ReplyDeleteI've only seen a few episodes since I reached adulthood. It was just above average, as I recall. Not great, but worth watching.
DeleteIt is so sad that she passed away and in such a manner. I guess, I always think, since they are stars, that this would have been caught early on and she would be aok. she did a lot for people who suffer from bi-polar disorder because she talked about it before it was even considered "acceptable"
ReplyDeleteVery true. She did talk about bi-polar disorder well before most celebs admitted to it.
DeleteThis one, more than most of the others so far this year, hits close to home and really hurts. She was my generation, and I watched her on TV, a kid close to my age. And of course I was crazy in love with her! This year of 2016 is really sucking big time!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is. I was really shocked by her death, as well as Garry Shandling's. These celebrities are relatively young to me now. (I hit 60 this coming November.)
DeleteThis one really gets to me. I love her. I've loved all her made-for-TV movies, and The Miracle Worker was part of my life early on. Oh, to have seen it on Broadway. She struggled against mental illness and managed to live a comfortable, pretty peaceful life for many years. It was a shock to learn she's gone.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I didn't even try to make a definitive list of her career accomplishments, due to time constraints when I was writing it. But I'll always remember The Miracle Worker and Patty's sitcom.
DeleteYes, RIP. I wondered where I got that flip hairdo in the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteI remember it well from my childhood. (Uhh... I didn't have one, of course.)
DeleteMy wife is a huge fan.
ReplyDeleteYeah, so was I.
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