Rant #1,641: We Lost a Real Good One ...

We lost a real good one when Patty Duke died yesterday.

She was just 69 years of age, but I think to most Baby Boomers, she was the perpetual teenager.

That underscores the fact that she lived a troubled life for a good portion of her early years, it kind of derailed her career, but she lived through it, had a family, and ended up having a really nice career.

She was born in Elmhurst to abusive parents, parents who really couldn't care for her or her siblings.

Her childhood was basically signed over to her managers, who, according to Duke, abused her in every form imaginable--even stealing her identity by changing her name--yet somehow, made her into a star of the magnitude in her childhood, of that of other former young child stars, including the likes of Shirley Temple and Judy Garland.

She starred as Helen Keller both on Broadway and in the movies in "The Miracle Worker." To say the least, if you want to see acting at its finest, see this film, which also starred Ann Bancroft as teacher Annie Sullivan. It is a monument to filmmaking.

Duke's portrayal of Keller is something to behold, and she earned an Oscar, at the time the youngest performer ever to win the award. She supposedly learned the role for Broadway by practicing with a blindfold on her eyes for months, and her performance is, unquestionably, one of the great portrayals in modern cinema.

I remember seeing this film and really and truly believing that I was seeing Helen Keller on screen, even though it was only Duke portraying her. Yes, it was that good.

Anyway, it was during this period that the magnitude of the irresponsibility her managers had for their charge was beginning to wear on Duke.

Like her mother, she had shown that she had some mental problems, yet they pushed her on her career trajectory without missing a beat.

As a teen, she starred in the whimsical TV show with the most unlikely of premises.

"The Patty Duke Show" was about two cousins who inexplicably looked exactly like each other, and who came to live together in the same home in the mythical Brooklyn Heights neighborhood. Patty and Cathy laughed alike, they talked alike ... here is the full theme, which completely explained the show to viewers:

"Meet Cathy, who's lived most everywhere, 
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square. 
But Patty's only seen the sights 
A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights -
What a crazy pair! 

But they're cousins, 
Identical cousins all the way. 
One pair of matching bookends, 
Different as night and day. 

Where Cathy adores a minuet, 
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette, 
Our Patty loves to rock and roll, 
A hot dog makes her lose control - 
What a wild duet! 

Still, they're cousins, 
Identical cousins and you'll find, 
They laugh alike, they walk alike, 
At times they even talk alike - 

You can lose your mind, 
When cousins are two of a kind." 

It made no sense at all, but Duke carried the show, and it ran for three seasons, and would have run for a fourth if ABC would have agreed to keep the show based in New York. They wanted to move it to California, but Duke hedged on the move, and the show ended.

Duke portrayed the supposed "typical" female teenager of that period, one that thought about one thing and one thing only: boys. She was perfect as Patty, and even more perfect as Cathy, where she really had to act, use a phony accent, and truly act slightly differently and more refined to carry this character.

Dual roles all at once. It was a workload, but Duke got through it on screen.

She also started a nice, although a bit underwhelming, singing career, which produced one major hit record, sort of in the style of Lesley Gore.

However, during her teen years, which should have been her happiest, her mental illness was starting to get to her. Although few knew what was going on with her, she displayed very strange behavior at times, being very high and very low literally from day to day.

Her handlers treated her pretty much as Judy Garland was treated when she showed similar signs early in her career, with pills and alcohol, and Duke became addicted.

After the show ended, she continued to act, but she was listed as being difficult.

She was cast in "Valley of the Dolls," and this was pretty much the last straw. Finally emancipated from her handlers, she pretty much went off the deep end, exhibiting even more bizarre behavior, and where her career might normally be reaching its peak, for all intents and purposes, her mental illness derailed her career to a certain extent, although she continued to act, married, had children, and made an enormous decision:

Once she was diagnosed, she would announce to the world what she had.

In today's world, the admittance that Duke had a mental illness--she was bipolar, among other things--would not raise an eyebrow, but in the 1970s and 1980s, this was akin to sticking a knife in your career and killing it.

But Duke felt that this was necessary, for her and to make others more conscious of such an illness, and she became the first celebrity in my memory to be brave enough to associate themselves with a mental illness and make such a malady public.

Beginning in the 1970s, the bulk of her work was on television, in numerous TV movies, sitcoms and she even became a regular on the game show circuit, appearing on everything from "The Match Game"--in the heralded bottom row, flush left seat, reserved for the prettiest actresses--to other shows where she appeared with husband John Astin, of "Addams Family" fame, with whom she had several children, including actor Sean Astin.

When that marriage dissolved, she married someone out of show business, and pretty much lived her remaining life in and out of the spotlight.

She wrote a best selling book about her life and illness, and made numerous public service announcements about a myriad of causes, including mental illness and Social Security.

She also returned to the avenues that helped her become a star. Duke later starred in various later productions of "The Miracle Worker," but this time, as Annie Sullivan. She also later directed the show in various revivals.

Duke also returned in her dual role as Patty and Cathy in a "The Patty Duke Show" reunion movie, which was very well received, and she even poked fun at her dual role on other shows where she played dual roles.

She lived a packed, stacked 69 years for sure, but it seems that even with that, she still had a lot of living to do, but sadly, it all ended yesterday.

R.I.P. Patty, or Anna. You done good.