The PATTY DUKE Only We Knew

THE ACTRESS' SON AND A CO-STAR RECALL HER BRAVE FIGHT AGAINST MENTAL ILLNESS

At 16, The Miracle Worker ’s Patty Duke became the youngest winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. “My God, Joan Crawford told me I was wonderful,” Patty said. “I met Gregory Peck! All of it was truly a wonderland except for this little shadow.”

Darkness followed the star, who was born Anna Marie Duke, for much of her life. Even as she became America’s sweetheart on The Patt y Duke Show, she was being exploited by her handlers, who mistreated her and embezzled approximately $1 million of her earnings. Patty also experienced depression, panic attacks and mood swings from a young age that would later be diagnosed as bipolar disorder.

On the set, the teenager hid her struggles. “She was a remarkable child genius,” William Schallert, who played her father on the show, told Closer. “We had a very close relationship,” said the actor, who called Patty “very mature for her age.”

She wed Harry Falk, a director 13 years her senior, at 18 to escape her handlers. Professionally, she grew into more adult roles in Valley of the Dolls and Me, Natalie, for which she won a Golden Globe. Privately, her untreated mental illness brought about depression, binge drinking, an eating disorder and multiple suicide attempts. She was divorced after four years.