There are so many emotions. Her work meant so much to me growing up, and The Miracle Worker was a game-changer in terms of my child-hood understanding of acting (especially since I wanted to be one myself.) The Patty Duke Show was also appointment television, and I can still sing the entirety of that theme song, to this day. And then later came the books. First up, her memoir, one of the best of its kind: Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke
She was also the president of SAG/AFTRA, the union-giant that protects those who work in movies and television. (Her death means that SAG lost two former presidents – Ken Howard and Patty Duke – in one week.) The SAG website has an obituary for Duke that gives a great overview of her career, as well as her stint as union president.
What I am really present to are those performances though. Especially The Miracle Worker, one of the all-time great “child performances,” although to say it was a great performance “for a child” is to totally limit the magnitude of what she accomplished as Helen Keller. Let’s face it: going toe-to-toe with Anne Bancroft would be difficult for even a seasoned actress. But that film is a two-hander, a battle of the wills, equal opponents in ferocity and determination. Watching it is still a revelation today.
A gifted and terrific actress. Rest in peace. And thank you, not only for all the joy and inspiration you gave me through your acting, but for your books, and how they led the way for so many.
Patty Duke and Helen Keller
Truly awful news in what is already a staggeringly awful year…had fuller thoughts here (too much for a comment!)
http://theroundplaceinthemiddle.com/?p=6747
Yeah, I’m very sad. Her career was very meaningful.
Look how she handles this judgmental prick, the first questioner:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud2HXKrrRt8
Kim Morgan sent me this link – and I actually remember watching this Phil Donahue episode at the time. I had read her book. It blew me away. Maybe I recognized myself in it. I don’t know. But she handles those questions with such aplomb, especially that first one. Shut that kind of shit DOWN.
Hah! She was always awesome. I spent the day yesterday discovering a whole new world with her interviews on YouTube but I missed that one.
Yeah, it’s a really good one.
Occasionally, while channel surfing, I’ll stumble on a rerun of The Patty Duke show and often choose to watch it. The talent required to play both the refined, English cousin Cathy and the American rock-and-roll loving Patty and make it seem realistic showcases her wonderful talent – as did her Oscar winning portrayal of the young Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker.”
RIP Patty and thanks for the memories!
// and make it seem realistic showcases her wonderful talent //
Absolutely! It was such an entertaining set-up and she was just so wonderful in both roles. An extraordinary actress. Gifted, in the truest sense of the word – especially because she was so young.
I mean, she gave heavy-hitter scene-stealer Anne Bancroft a run for her money in Miracle Worker – one of the greatest two-hander films in Hollywood history.
Because The Patty Duke Show is seldom written about at length, let me share this blog post that does exactly that.
Rinaldo: I just tore through that post. It’s a stunner – both because of the background of the production of the show (much of which I did not know – although I remembered a lot of details from Duke’s book) but because of the observations about her acting work (something that is often lost when the “bipolar” narrative takes center stage).
Clearly I need to purchase the show on DVD so I can hear that commentary – I’m not sure why it hadn’t already occurred to me to do so. Thank you so much for the link to that post!
Glad you liked it. That blog is a favorite of mine because he writes about series of the 1950s and 60s that are usually ignored by everyone else. I’ve learned a lot about the Westerns of that era (even the ones I remember seeing sometimes), Route 66, and the like. I’m just sorry that it seems to have been dormant in recent months; I hope he’s OK.
Thanks for putting it on my radar.
I love these kinds of in-depth looks at not just the show, but the creation/development of the show.