Patty Duke photo

Patty Duke

Anna Marie "Patty" Duke was an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16 for the role of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, and later starring in her self-titled sitcom, The Patty Duke Show for three years. She progressed to more adult roles such as Neely O'Hara in the 1967 film

Valley of the Dolls

. Duke was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1982; afterwards she then devoted much of her time to advocating and educating the public on mental health issues. She was later elected president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 to 1988.Duke died on the morning of March 29, 2016, at the age of 69, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, of sepsis from a ruptured intestine.


“I tell people to monitor their self-pity. Self-pity is very unattractive.”
Patty Duke
Read more