Patty Duke

Patty Duke Headshot

Actress

Birth Name: Anna Marie Duke

Birth Date: December 14, 1946

Death Date: March 29, 2016

Birth Place: Elmhurst, New York

Spouses: John Astin

Children: Sean Astin, Mackenzie Astin

This petite, gifted former child performer had appeared in more than 50 television shows by the time she won Broadway fame at age 12 in "The Miracle Worker." Patty Duke won an Oscar for reprising her role as the young Helen Keller in the 1962 screen adaptation. In 1979, she won an Emmy for playing Keller's teacher--the role originally played on Broadway by Anne Bancroft--in a TV version of the same play. Duke made a successful transition to teen star playing vivacious twins on the popular TV series "The Patty Duke Show" (ABC, 1963-66). But after starring in the cult classic "Valley of the Dolls" (1967) and "Me, Natalie" (1969), she mostly concentrated on TV roles.

Over her career, Duke won two other Emmy Awards, as a runaway pregnant Southerner befriended by a black lawyer in the TV-movie "My Sweet Charlie" (NBC, 1970) and as a mentally unstable wife in the NBC miniseries "Captains and the Kings" (1976). She played a rather sensuous Martha Washington in both "George Washington" (CBS, 1984) and "George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation" (CBS, 1986). Duke brought her warm maternal presence to "Always Remember I Love You" (CBS, 1990) and garnered praise as real-life journalist Betty Rollin who struggled to assist her mother (played by Maureen Stapleton) to die with dignity in "Last Wish" (ABC, 1992).

In 1990, Duke co-produced and played herself in the small screen adaptation of her memoirs, "Call Me Anna" (ABC), which detailed her lifelong struggle with mental illness. After her initial success with her own sitcom, Duke failed to find an appropriate follow-up. She was wife to Richard Crenna and mother of Helen Hunt and Anthony Edwards in "It Takes Two" (ABC, 1982-83) and the first female President of the United States in the short-lived "Hail to the Chief" (ABC, 1985). Duke also played a woman involved with a younger man in the summer sitcom "Karen's Song" (Fox, 1987) and a woman who becomes a minister and moves to Idaho in "Amazing Grace" (NBC, 1995), which she also co-executive produced.

An unglamorous, earnest performer, Duke most often played sensitive but troubled types who sometimes display an inner reserve of considerable strength but never lose their essential ordinariness. In her autobiography, she revealed details of her turbulent childhood and her victory over bipolar disorder, which she further chronicled in A Brilliant Madness: Living With Manic-Depressive Illness. Duke became only the second woman to be elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1985, resigning from the post in 1988. During her 1973-82 marriage to actor John Astin, she was billed as Patty Duke Astin; the couple's two sons, Sean and Mackenzie, went on to respectable acting careers of their own.

Credits

Power of the Air

Actor
Charlene Summers
Movie
2018

Smart Women, Smart Money

Guest
Show
2015

Liv and MaddieStream

Guest Star
Grandma Janice
Series
2013

Amazing Love

Actor
Helen
Movie
2012

The Protector

Guest Star
Series
2011
13%

Hawaii Five-0Stream

Guest Star
Series
2010

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling: An Irish Parade of Stars (My Music)

Host
Show
2010

Unanswered Prayers

Actor
Irene
Movie
2010

Throwing Stones

Actor
Show
2009

Drop Dead DivaStream

Guest Star
Rita Curtis
Series
2009
78%

GleeStream

Guest Star
Jan
Series
2009
70%

Love Finds a Home

Actor
Mary
Movie
2008

The Four Children of Tander Welch

Actor
Susan Metler
Movie
2008

The Morning Show With Mike & Juliet

Guest
Show
2007

In Time of War: The Japanese American Experience of WWII

Narrator
Show
2005

Falling in Love With the Girl Next Door

Actor
Bridget Connolly
Movie
2005

Bigger Than the Sky

Actor
Mrs. Keene/Earlene
Movie
2005

Murder Without Conviction

Actor
Mother Joseph
Movie
2004

Little John

Actor
Sylvia
Movie
2002

First Years

Guest Star
Show
2001

Love Lessons

Actor
Sunny Andrews
Movie
2000

Miracle on the Mountain: The Kincaid Family Story

Actor
Anne Kincaid
Movie
2000

Family Law

Guest Star
Series
1999

Judging Amy

Guest Star
Series
1999

The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights

Actor
Patty Lane/Cathy Lane MacAllister
Movie
1999

The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights

Executive Producer
Movie
1999

A Season For MiraclesStream

Actor
Angel
Movie
1999

Kimberly

Actor
Dr. Feinstenberger
Movie
1999

The Disappearing Act

Actor
Faye Dolan
Movie
1998

A Christmas MemoryStream

Actor
Sook
Movie
1997

Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah

Actor
Natalie Porter
Movie
1996

Harvest of Fire

Actor
Annie Beiler
Movie
1996

To Face Her Past

Actor
Beth Bradfield
Movie
1996

Amazing Grace

Actor
Hannah Miller
Show
1995

When the Vows Break

Actor
Barbara Parker
Movie
1995

Touched by an AngelStream

Guest Star
Series
1994

One Woman's Courage

Actor
Grace McKenna
Movie
1994

Cries From the Heart

Actor
Terry
Movie
1994

A Matter of Justice

Actor
Mary Brown
Show
1993

FrasierStream

Guest Star
Alice
Series
1993
95%

FrasierStream

Guest Voice
Alice
Series
1993
95%

Justicia Final

Actor
Movie
1993

A Matter of Justice

Actor
Mary Brown
Movie
1993

A Family of Strangers

Actor
Beth Thompson
Movie
1993

No Child of Mine

Actor
Lucille Jenkins
Movie
1993

Last Wish

Actor
Betty Rollin
Movie
1992

Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive

Actor
Jean Williams
Movie
1992

Prelude to a Kiss

Actor
Mrs. Boyle
Movie
1992

A Killer Among FriendsStream

Actor
Jean Monroe
Movie
1992

Friends for Life

Actor
Jean Monroe
Movie
1992

Absolute Strangers

Actor
Judge Ray
Movie
1991

Call Me Anna

Actor
Anna Marie Duke
Movie
1990

Always Remember I Love You

Actor
Ruth Monroe
Movie
1990

Amityville: The Evil Escapes

Actor
Nancy Evans
Movie
1989

Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure

Actor
Carolyn Henry
Movie
1989

Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace

Actor
Althea Sloan
Movie
1988

Fatal Judgment

Actor
Anne Capute
Movie
1988

Karen's Song

Actor
Karen Matthews
Show
1987

Fight for Life

Actor
Shirley Abrams
Movie
1987

Your Choice for the Film Awards

Host
Show
1986

George Washington: The Forging of a Nation

Actor
Martha Washington
Movie
1986

A Time to Triumph

Actor
Concetta Hassan
Movie
1986

Something Special

Actor
Doris Niceman
Movie
1986

Hail to the Chief

Actor
President Julia Mansfield
Series
1985

Super PasswordStream

Guest
Game Show
1984

George Washington

Actor
Martha Washington
Show
1984

Best Kept Secrets

Actor
Laura Dietz
Movie
1984

Hotel

Guest Star
Soap
1983

September Gun

Actor
Sister Dulcina
Movie
1983

Le Fusil de septembre

Actor
Movie
1983

It Takes Two

Actor
Molly Quinn
Show
1982

Something So Right

Actor
Jeanne Bosnick
Movie
1982

Entertainment Tonight

Guest
News
1981

By Design

Actor
Helen
Movie
1981

The Violation of Sarah McDavid

Actor
Sarah McDavid
Movie
1981

It's a LivingStream

Guest Star
Patty Duke
Series
1980

Mom, the Wolfman, and Me

Actor
Deborah Bergman
Movie
1980

The Babysitter

Actor
Liz Benedict
Movie
1980

The Women's Room

Actor
Lily
Movie
1980

Une soirée mouvementée

Actor
Movie
1980

Password PlusStream

Guest
Game Show
1979

Before and After

Actor
Carole Matthews
Movie
1979

Hanging by a Thread

Actor
Sue Grainger
Movie
1979

The Miracle Worker

Actor
Anne Sullivan
Movie
1979

Having Babies III

Actor
Leslee Wexler
Movie
1978

The SwarmStream

Actor
Rita
Movie
1978
9%

Fire!

Actor
Dr. Peggy Wilson
Movie
1977

Killer on Board

Actor
Norma Walsh
Movie
1977

The Storyteller

Actor
Sue Davidoff
Movie
1977

Men Who Love Women

Actor
Sylvia Crawford
Movie
1977

Curse of the Black Widow

Actor
Laura Lockwood
Movie
1977

Rosetti and Ryan: Men Who Love Women

Actor
Sylvia Crawford
Movie
1977

Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby

Actor
Rosemary Woodhouse
Movie
1976

Rosemary's Baby II

Actor
Rosemary Woodhouse
Movie
1976

Police Woman

Guest Star
Larue Collins
Series
1974

TattletalesStream

Guest
Game Show
1974

La Queremos Señorita Kline

Actor
Movie
1974

Miss Kline, We Love You

Actor
Melanie Kline
Movie
1974

Nightmare

Actor
Jan Richards
Movie
1974

Hard Day at Blue Nose

Actor
Adelaide
Movie
1974

Police Story

Actor
Daniele
Series
1973

Match GameStream

Self
Game Show
1973

The Streets of San FranciscoStream

Guest Star
Susan Rosen
Series
1972

The Sixth Sense

Guest Star
Show
1972

You'll Like My Mother

Actor
Francesca Kinsolving
Movie
1972

Deadly Harvest

Actor
Jenny
Movie
1972

She Waits

Actor
Laura Wilson
Movie
1971

If Tomorrow Comes

Actor
Eileen Phillips
Movie
1971

Two on a Bench

Actor
Macy Kramer
Movie
1971

Night GalleryStream

Actor
Series
1970

Night GalleryStream

Guest Star
Series
1970

My Sweet Charlie

Actor
Marlene Chambers
Movie
1970

The Cliff

Actor
Sheila
Movie
1970

Marcus Welby, M.D.Stream

Guest Star
Kate Gannard (as Patty Duke Astin)
Series
1969

Me, Natalie

Actor
Natalie Miller
Movie
1969

Journey to the Unknown

Actor
Barbara
Show
1968

The Dick Cavett ShowStream

Guest
Talk
1968

Journey to the Unknown

Actor
Barbara King
Movie
1968

Valley of the DollsStream

Actor
Neely O'Hara
Movie
1967
33%

The Daydreamer

Voice
Thumbelina
Movie
1966

Billie

Actor
Billie Carol
Movie
1965

The Jimmy Dean Show

Guest
Variety Show
1963

The Patty Duke ShowStream

Actor
Patty Lane/Cathy Lane
Series
1963

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonStream

Guest
Talk
1962

The Miracle WorkerStream

Actor
Helen Keller
Movie
1962
96%

Ben Casey

Actor
Janie Wahl
Series
1961

The Power and the Glory

Actor
Coral
Movie
1961

Once Upon a Christmas Time

Actor
Lori
Show
1959

Meet Me in St. Louis

Actor
Tootie
Show
1959

4D Man

Actor
Marjorie Sutherland
Movie
1959

Happy Anniversary

Actor
Debbie Walters
Movie
1959

The Goddess

Actor
Emily Ann Faulkner, age 8
Movie
1958
57%

The Prince and the Pauper

Actor
Show
1957

What's My Line?Stream

Guest
Game Show
1950

News aboutPatty Duke