Patty Duke

Patty Duke is, without qualification, one of the finest actresses of our time. The Oscar- and multiple Emmy Award-winning actress, who stepped down from her second term as president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1988, is also a best-selling author. Her autobiography, Call Me Anna, which was released in August 1987, remained on the best-seller list for 10 weeks. Call Me Anna was made into an ABC-telefilm starring Ms. Duke herself. She is also the author of A Brilliant Madness.

Born Anna Marie Duke in New York City on December 14, Patty was the third and youngest child of Frances and John Patrick Duke. When she was nine years old, her older brother Ray was cast in a documentary titled The Deep Wall. When the producers needed a girl to play Ray's younger sister, Patty was convinced to give acting a try. Under the strict supervision of personal managers John and Ethel Ross, Patty was molded into the "perfect child actress" and began working weekly in live television. Young Duke became "The Belle of Broadway" when she was cast as Helen Keller in William Gibson's The Miracle Worker. When the show opened at The Playhouse Theatre on October 19, 1959, Patty became the youngest actress to ever star on Broadway. Patty was on Broadway for 21 months, then left the play to shoot the film version of The Miracle Worker and received the 1963 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film, the youngest actress to have ever won an Oscar.

In 1962, Patty began to film The Patty Duke Show. The show won the actress her first of four Emmy awards. The series was off the air for a year when, in 1966, her career was spectacularly revived with a starring role as Neely O'Hara in Valley of the Dolls. She quickly followed Dolls with the CBS television movie Me, Natalie, for which she received a Golden Globe award as Best Actress. Patty then captured another Emmy in 1970 for her starring role in the television film, My Sweet Charlie. Patty won her third Emmy as Best Actress in the 1976 television film, Captain and the Kings. The following season she was nominated for two Emmys for performances in Having Babies and Family Upside Down.

In 1979, she starred in the NBC remake of The Miracle Worker as Annie Sullivan, the original Anne Bancroft role, with Melissa Gilbert in the role of Helen Keller. Duke received universal critical praise for her challenging role reversal, as well as her fourth Emmy. Next, Duke starred in the ABC-TV movie Before and After, and was an Emmy nominee for her role in The Women's Room. The Academy also recognized her with a nomination in outstanding children's programming for Girl on the Edge of Town. In 1983, ABC offered Patty the series It Takes Two. The role brought her a People's Choice Award for Best Actress in a new TV series. In the same year, Patty was nominated for another Emmy Award for her portrayal of Martha Washington in the much-honored eight-hour miniseries George Washington.