As I'm sure you've heard Patty Duke, the third youngest actor ever to win an Oscar (she was 16 when she took the industry's top prize for The Miracle Worker) and the former President of SAG, has died at the age of 69. Her birth name was Anna Marie Duke and by the time she was 14 she was already a famous thespian. She originated the role of blind and deaf Helen Keller in the hit Broadway play "The Miracle Worker". She and her Tony winning co-star Anne Bancroft both transferred over to the film version two years later to bring Helen Keller's incredible story to millions more. It really is a shockingly good movie, with two stellar performances, and it's devoid of the sentiments and easy comforts that you're expecting if you've only heard of it secondhand; that movie earns its "triumph of the human spirit" appeal.
Photos, her son Sean Astin, and her charity work after the jump...
Patty Duke with the real life Helen Keller in the 1960s
Patty with her son Sean who would also become a famous actor.
Patty Duke and Susan Hayward in Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Later she had a hit TV series "The Patty Duke Show" and other enduring film classic, albeit a less respected one in Valley of the Dolls (1967). Not many actresses can claim they won an Oscar as a teenager and later snatched the wig right off another Oscar winner in a camp classic! People also forget this neat bit of trivia: She won an Emmy several years after her Oscar breathrough for "The Miracle Worker" also but this time she was playing Anne Bancroft's role!
Her son Sean Astin, who later came to fame himself in the movies (The Goonies, Rudy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy) left a heartfelt message on Facebook about her death and the family is raising funds for The Mental Health Project in her honor. Patty Duke spoke frequently about her mental illness and was a tireless advocate for mental health.
He writes...
My mother's life touched tens of millions of people. Her ground-breaking portrayal of iconic American legend Helen Keller launched a career that would span six decades. First on broadway and then on the silver screen, Patty Duke's characterization of the extraordinary development of the blind/deaf child brought global attention to the plight of people living with those challenges.
This kind of illuminating and compassionate work became the sacred mission of her life. She became a voice for the voiceless and a reassuring presence for the scared, the intimidated and the lost. She was a healer of many souls and a champion for so many in need.
Anna (her given name) fought for civil rights, gay rights and the rights of working actors to name just a few. Her greatest achievement was confronting her mental illness and making her story public... [continue at the Mental Health Project fundraising site]
Related Reading: an interview with Patty Duke at people magazine during her SAG Presidency