Entertainment News: Film, TV Star & Oscar Winner Patty Duke Dies at 69

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Patty Duke (left, with Anne Bancroft) in her Oscar Winning Role in ‘The Miracle Worker’
Photo credit: MGM Home Entertainment

HollywoodChicago.com: You were in your early twenties during the Summer of Love in 1967. What event or happening that you experienced during that time best symbolizes the era for you, either in a good or not-so-good connotation?

Duke: Again, my experience is a little skewed because of what eventually became diagnosed as manic depression. I desperately wanted to be on the streets with the Vietnam War protesters, I would hook up wherever I could to chime in, but for many years of my life I spent one foot in one generation, and one in another, and therefore in conflict.

HollywoodChicago.com: Although the early reviews and career expectations were compromised in your performance in ‘Valley of the Dolls,’ you’ve come to terms with it magnificently.

Duke: I’ve had a lot of help. [laughs] When it came out it was a true disappointment, and I was a true disappointment to me. I was in some fairyland I guess, thinking we were telling an honest story on how people get addicted to success and substances. What a crock! I was just mortified.

At any rate, about 10 years after it premiered, the gay community across the United States sort of took it up as their anthem. At first I was a little shocked that people would sit and laugh at stuff that I thought was so serious. But as the years have gone by they and it have brought me tremendous joy and an exchange of love with people that I wouldn’t have had if it wasn’t for that movie.

HollywoodChicago.com: Going back to the actual filming, did you trust that director Mark Robson was getting the truest take on the performances, or did you suspect that the ship was sinking?

Duke: I didn’t trust Mr. Robson and he has passed, so I will try and not speak ill of the dead. To say that we didn’t communicate, is a major understatement. Plus which, he pissed me off a great deal at the time. Instead of getting out of me the performance he thought he wanted, he got a battle.

HollywoodChicago.com: Is it any wonder the film came out as it did?

Duke: You know, one would have to look toward the source, wouldn’t one? But so many other things came out it, including being friends with Sharon Tate. One of the true highlights of my life. And of course, later, one of my more painful experiences when she was murdered.

HollywoodChicago.com: Did a lot of Los Angeles think the party was over after that?

Duke: Everyone was beyond terrified. Right after, no one had known who had done this and why, certainly Sharon had never garnered any evil from anyone. So people got guard dogs and alarmed their houses to the hilt. I mostly just felt deep sadness and depression, it didn’t occur to me that anyone would be after me.

HollywoodChicago.com: What have you learned about men in your long life and your relationships with them?

Duke: That I finally got the right one! [laughs] Mike [Pearce] and I are coming up on our 25th wedding anniversary, which is amazing, particularly for someone who is bipolar, when we’re undiagnosed we have a hard time hanging onto anything. In my history, I married three really lovely men, I just wasn’t marriage material. Thank god when I became marriage material, there was my husband, he was waiting for me. I met him at Ft. Benning where he was an actual Drill Sergeant. It was the Drill Sergeant and the Showgirl. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: You had a tempestuous relationship with Desi Arnaz, Jr., when you were younger. Did you make up with Lucille Ball over the circumstance of the situation?

Duke: Yes we did, it was very brief. It was nothing more than a look between us and a handshake. Thank god, because I would have been unhappy if she had passed without us having done that.

HollywoodChicago.com: What did you most become aware of regarding the thoughts, hopes and struggles of your past life when you were finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder and began treatment. What emotion became the most intense for you thereafter?

Duke: Joy. And the other thing, whether it’s a feeling or not, but certainly balance. When I specifically began dealing with that illness, I felt a kind of freedom that I had never felt before, I owned the illness, it didn’t own me. I became a more creative Mom, and I had a long road back in that department. I was very bad to my children, which is hard to recognize, but I was. Thank god they are the people they are and have found in themselves to forgive, not forget, but to forgive and live in the moment.

HollywoodChicago.com: Going back to the 1960s, when you were a ‘celebrity,’ did you meet anybody that really made an impression?

Duke: I did get to meet, in July of 1963, President Kennedy. I mortified myself, of course, because the minute he walked into the Oval Office, I started crying, and I didn’t stop crying until he left. [laughs] He was very gracious and dear, and it was a huge thrill. As SAG President, I had an opportunity to meet Pope John Paul II. I didn’t cry though, I was more grown up. [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: As a performer, what thrilled you the most – the amazing reviews on Broadway, the major awards you have won, or hearing your hit song on the radio and why?

Duke: None of the above. It is the contact with people, regular Joes, to know that my work, that for some reason, has meant something very specific to them. In a positive way. That is the thrill.

HollywoodChicago.com: Still, it must be cool to hear your song on the radio?

Duke: No, not necessarily. [laughs] Because I’m in the car, I sing along the first few bars, and then I turn it off. You know what’s really shocking. When I’m driving along and a DJ plays a song and says, ‘can you imagine that Patty Duke is 64 today!’ What?!? [laughs]

HollywoodChicago.com: In your infamous Emmy Acceptance speech in 1970, you said the best words you’ve ever learned was ‘hello,’ ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘thank you.’ Are there any other words you’ve learned over the years that have become your personal best?

Duke: The same words apply, but I will add one. Forgiveness. Of others, but mostly of one’s self. When you can forgive yourself, you can then go on and make a contribution. I’m still working on that.

By PATRICK McDONALD Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com