
Acting
Patty Duke
Born 1946-12-14 · Elmhurst, Queens, New York, United States
Anna Marie Duke (December 14, 1946 - March 29, 2016), known professionally as Patty Duke, was an American actress. Beginning her acting career in commercials and playing bit parts in television and movies, her breakthrough role was as Helen Keller in the Broadway version of "The Miracle Worker" (1959 - 1961). For the 1962 film adaptation, Duke reprised her role, which won the Academy Award for best supporting actress - at age 16, she was the youngest person ever to win an Oscar (a record later broken by Tatum O'Neal in 1973). Other early films included Billie (1965), Valley of the Dolls (1967), and Me, Natalie (1969). On television, Duke starred in the popular teen sitcom The Patty Duke Show (1963 - 1966), playing a dual role and garnering the first of ten Emmy nominations. She won Emmys for her roles in television film My Sweet Charlie (1970), miniseries Captains and the Kings (1976), and the 1979 TV movie version of The Miracle Worker (1979), this time portraying Annie Sullivan. She served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 - 1988. Off-screen, Duke's life was often tumultuous. Born in Elmhurst, New York, to Frances Margaret (McMahon), a cashier, and John Patrick Duke, a cab driver and handyman, her acting career began at age eight when she was turned over to her brother Ray Duke's managers, John and Ethel Ross, who changed her name and engaged in exploitative behavior. Duke was married four times: to director Harry Falk from 1965 - 1969; to writer Michael Tell in 1970 (with whom she became mother to actor Sean Astin); to actor John Astin from 1972 - 1985 (with who she became mother to actress Mackenzie Astin); and to drill sergeant Michael Pearce from 1986 until her death (with whom she had two stepdaughters and an adopted son Kevin). In 1982, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which was the subject of her second book, "A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depression Illness" (1992). Duke was also a political advocate for issues such as the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), AIDS awareness, and nuclear disarmament. She died on March 29, 2016, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, of sepsis from a ruptured intestine.
Acting credits
6.0Lured by their dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and pills — the beloved "dolls."
Valley of the Dolls
1967
5.0Scientist Dr. Bradford Crane and army general Thalius Slater join forces to fight an almost invisible enemy threatening America; killer bees that have deadly venom and attack without reason. Disaster movie-master Irwin Allen's film contains spectacular special effects, including a train crash caused by the eponymous swarm.
The Swarm
1978
7.9The true story of the frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness of 7-year-old Helen Keller who, since infancy, has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch, the only tool they have in common, and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.
The Miracle Worker
1962
5.8Two brothers, scientists Scott and Tony Nelson, develop an amplifier which enables a person to enter a 4th dimensional state, allowing him to pass through any object. Scott experiments on himself and discovers that each time he passes through something he ages rapidly. He begins killing people, sucking out their life energies and regaining his youth as a result.
4D Man
1959
4.6After moving into their matriarch's gothic seaside mansion, the Evans family soon becomes host to an uninvited demonic force in the form of a mysterious lamp that once resided in the Amityville house.
Amityville: The Evil Escapes
1989
5.0A 16-year-old tomboy and high school athlete becomes embroiled with the lives around her boyfriend whose conservative father is running for mayor.
Billie
1965
6.4The unmarried daughter of a Texas rancher gives birth to an unwanted child. She puts the child up for adoption and moves away from home. Without her knowledge, her father took the boy and raised him. Twelve years later, she is now a successful family-court judge in L.A. Over the years, she has avoided her father and knows nothing of the child. That all changes when he decides that is time she knew her own child and heads for L.A.
Little John
2002
A Massachusetts nurse (Patty Duke) is accused of exercising Fatal Judgment in this made-for-TV movie. While tending a seriously ill cancer patient, the nurse administered a generous dose of morphine. The patient died, which is why the woman is now on trial for murder.
Fatal Judgement
1988
5.6A couple fall in love despite the girl's pessimistic outlook. As they struggle to come to terms with their relationship, something supernatural happens that tests it.
Prelude to a Kiss
1992
5.6Since she was a child, Natalie Miller has always thought she was an ugly ducking. Despite her mother's encouragement that she will grow up to be pretty, Natalie has never believed it will happen. She runs away to Greenwich Village to find herself and discovers a vibrant bohemian counterculture.
Me, Natalie
1969
5.3Examines the relationship between sex, women, and the role of female sexuality in popular Hollywood culture, focusing on Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Jean Harlow, and Sharon Stone.
Playboy: Sex at 24 Frames Per Second
2003
5.4Milly is annoyed whenever her mom tells her to behave more appropriate for a girl. She's just not interested in fancy dresses or prom dances. Some day her best friend's little brother offers her a potion which can make her deepest wish come true during a solar eclipse. She goes through with it and ends up with male genitals, additionally. So she has to decide if she wants to live as a boy or a girl. Her father, who always wanted a son, supports her in checking out life as a boy. Hence Milly changes school and starts out as Willy.
Willy/Milly
1986
9.0Based on Graham Greene's novel about a flawed but devoted priest in 1930s Mexico who attempts to perform his duties while eluding a police lieutenant determined to capture him.
The Power and the Glory
1963
6.6Teen friends, Steve, Carrie, Cooper, and Gameboy embark on a weekend camping trip lead by their church youth group leader Stuart and his wife Beth. Joining them is an outsider Ashley, a self-involved rich kid, whose attitude causes a major commotion within the group, specifically between her and Carrie. Before it gets too out of hand though, Stuart takes this opportunity to share with the kids the incredibly powerful biblical story of Hosea; a story of immovable faith, impeccable commitment, and impervious love.
Amazing Love
2012
6.0Based on the true story of baby Jessica McClure who fell into a drain pipe in her back yard while playing. She was stuck in the pipe about 20 to 30 feet down and it took rescuers 58 hours to get her out. There was fear that if they shook the earth too much with machinery they could cause Jessica to fall further down and die.
Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure
1989
6.7In this sequel, Lillian has been adopted and it's several years later. Annie, married and pregnant, visits her fellow doctor friend, Dr. Owen. Dr Owen desperately wants a baby, but seems unable to become pregnant. Lillian finds a love interest, an assistant to her adoptive dad, the latter has become quite overprotective.
Love Finds A Home
2009
7.2A teenage girl disappears and later turns up drowned, with a log across her back. Three years later, a former friend comes forward with some answers.
A Killer Among Friends
1992
7.0A miracle occurs for a homeless family consisting of two wayward children and their protective aunt with the help of an angel. When a young woman's niece and nephew are threatened with foster care after her sister is hospitalized following yet another overdose, she flees with them until they land in the sleepy town of Bethlehem just before Christmas and a series of kindnesses and coincidences gives the trio a chance at happiness.
A Season for Miracles
1999
3.0After his football career, Ben Beck returned to his Virginia small town and joined the family building firm. His family happiness with wife Lorrie and adolescent son Jessie is suddenly tested by the return of Ben's first high-school love, Ava Andersson, who visits from Chicago, after a failed marriage, to bury her ma. Ava seduces Ben into reliving their courtship, which she traumatically broke off without a goodbye. Jesse reacts furiously, even backseats his own football scholarship bid, rather pa's projected ambition, in favor of a writing summer course
Unanswered Prayers
2010
5.2Tony Franciosa plays a detective who's on the trail of a murderer whose mutilated and predominantly male victims are found encased in silken cocoons...
Curse of the Black Widow
1977
5.8In a small Amish community, three barns are burnt down almost simultaneously. FBI agent Sally Russwell is sent in to investigate this possible hate crime. What she finds however is a community that little trust for outsiders or "The English" as they call them. However, in her investigations, Agent Russell makes friends with one entrepreneurial widow, Annie Beiler who has her own curiosity about this stranger. Together, Annie introduces Russell in-depth to this close knit community bearing many appealing attributes. However, as Sally's investigations continue, she discovers secrets that reveal uncomfortable truths about the religious community that are linked to the arson attacks.
Harvest of Fire
1996
4.5Four young men fall in love with the same woman. When they all find themselves attracted by Kimberly, hey vow not to fight for her affections during the season -- but then she gets pregnant and doesn't know which teammate is the father.
Kimberly
1999
3.6Baby Adrian is now all grown up and separated from his mother, wrestling with the occult influences that plague him, and trying to outrun Satan himself.
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
1976
NRAn all-star variety special saluting America.
I Love Liberty
1982