Thursday, March 31, 2016

Patty Duke [1946-2016]

Artist: Patty Duke
LP: Don't Just Stand There
Song: "Don't Just Stand There" 
[ listen ]
Song: "Everything But Love" 
[ listen ]

I slipped into a melancholy state when I read yesterday that actress Patty Duke had died. What immediately filled my head was my former LDS missionary buddy Troy Tingey singing "...it will blow your miiiiiind!" after I had warbled, "Cou-sins. Identical cousins, and you'll find...they look alike, they walk alike, at times they even talk alike..." then Troy: "It will blow your miiiiiind!" Turns out we didn't even have the lyrics right. It's interesting to read just now that Sidney Sheldon created the roles of identical cousins Patty and Cathy Lane especially for Patty Duke after noticing that she had two very different sides to her personality. Nobody knew then that she suffered from bipolar disorder. 

In 1962 Patty became the youngest actor ever to win an Academy Award in a competitive category for her performance in THE MIRACLE WORKER. She was playing the young Helen Keller, a role she had originated on Broadway. There's a picture of Patty Duke in 1962 with the real Helen Keller here. Three years later found Patty releasing "Don't Just Stand There," her debut LP. It spawned two top-40 hits, including the LP title track which peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1965. You can read more about Patty Duke, aka. Sean Astin's mother, on Wikipedia here and go here to find her obituary in the New York Times. 

Patty Duke
[ December 19, 1946 — March 29, 2016 ]
We're going to miss you, Patty.