Child prodigy and political activist Patty Duke, née Anna Marie Duke, has died at the age of 69. Ms. Duke was known for her outstanding portrayal of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker on Broadway at age 12 with Anne Bancroft. Both went on to reprise their roles in the 1962 film adaptation, which earned Ms. Duke an Academy Award, making her the youngest recipient to win it at that time. Following on that success, she went on to star in The Patty Duke Show in which she played “twin” cousins Patty and Cathy Lane. In addition to her Oscar, Ms. Duke would win three Emmys and two Golden Globes during the span of her career.

Patty Duke, an Oscar-winning actress renowned at midcentury as a child star of stage, film and television, who, amid public struggles with bipolar disorder, went on to cultivate a respected screen career in adulthood, died on Tuesday at a hospital near her home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She was 69.

Her husband, Michael Pearce, said the cause was complications of a ruptured intestine that Ms. Duke suffered on Thursday.

Ms. Duke came to wide public notice in 1959, when, at 12, she starred as Helen Keller in the original Broadway production of William Gibson’s drama “The Miracle Worker.” Anne Bancroft played Helen’s teacher, Annie Sullivan.

For her work in the 1962 Hollywood film adaptation, in which she and Ms. Bancroft reprised their roles, Ms. Duke won the Academy Award for best supporting actress.

She came to even wider attention the next year, with the debut of “The Patty Duke Show,” the popular ABC sitcom in which Ms. Duke played the dual roles of Patty Lane, an unaffected Brooklyn girl, and her worldly, British-accented “identical cousin,” Cathy Lane.

[From New York Times]

Ms. Duke’s, childhood was marred by tragedy, mostly at the hands of John and Ethel Ross. The Ross’ were New York theatrical managers who became Ms. Duke’s guardians after they seized control of her career and who subjected her to years of torment and abuse. When they changed her name to Patty, they told her “Anna Marie is dead. You are Patty now”. During the investigation of quiz shows in 1959, Ms. Duke, at the behest of the Ross’ perjured herself before a New York grand jury about receiving the answers in advance when she appeared on The $64,000 Challenge. When she had finished her testimony, one of the congressmen pressed her on whether she was telling the truth. The scared 12 year-old Ms. Duke said, “No, sir. Everything I just told you was a lie” and proceeded to give the accurate account.

Breaking free from them, Ms. Duke, who preferred to be called Anna Marie outside of Hollywood, was diagnosed bi-polar disorder in 1982, married four times and became mother to three sons, including actors Sean and MacKenzie Astin. She went on to have a lengthy career both on film and within the industry. In 1985 she succeeded Ed Asner in the role of Screen Actors Guild President. She was a tireless educator and advocate for the fight against AIDS, once telling a crowd in West Hollywood, “I have two sons who are about to become sexually active, and I think they should be educated about the dangers of AIDS, just as they are educated about birth control.” In addition to AIDS, gay rights and mental health, Ms. Duke fought for a nuclear freeze and to resurrect the ailing ERA.

God speed Anna Marie, may you rest in peace.

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