The PATTY DUKE Only We Knew

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

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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.