Actress Patty Duke Is Dead at 69

[Reece]

I thought she'd have been older but there ya go!!
Sadly missed.
I was always a fan of John Astin, as Gomez (The Adams Family) and in such films as Evil Roy Slade!!

[Jimbuna]

So young

RIP Patty

[vienna]

Those outside of the US may not be aware Patty was the spokesperson for the Social Security Administration when they launched an effort to get new retirees to apply for benefits online rather than do all the paperwork in person. She did a series of commercials where she reprises her roles on The Patty Duke Show, one ad even getting together some of the former cast members in a familiar setting:





Although most people know of Patty Duke from her TV series, her acting abilities were very strong. In the series, if you notice carefully, Patty changes very subtly, the tension in her face from taut (for Patty) to soft (for Cathy); likewise, she changes the set of her eyes for each character. Most other actors would just let the costuming or the voice do the differentiation, but Patty went a step further and used the subtleties to give each character a bit of extra depth...

It is her role as Helen Keller, a real life person born deaf and blind, that stands as a testament to the true talent of Patty Duke. Just 16 years old, she took on a very challenging role for an actor: the character has virtually no lines, could not interact with other actors in a normal manner, and had to perform a very physically rigorous role. The character of young Helen Keller is essentially feral and almost completely closed off from the world around her. Patty Duke managed to capture the frustrations, fears, and anxieties of a person living in a world they really don't understand and with which they cannot communicate. In this clip, Helen's teacher Annie Sullivan (played by the equally incredible Anne Bancroft) finally breaks through Helen's isolation and begins to communicate with her:



Patty Duke was a truly great actor who, unfortunately, had to deal with a number of personal issues that prevent her for really fully realizing what her talent could have achieved, but just the on role of Helen Keller firmly established her as true actor and talent in every sense of the word...

RIP, Patty Duke...


<O>

[Mr Quatro]

Patty Duke died from a not so rare condition called sepsis:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b0a06d5803ef31

Sepsis, a reaction to infection that leads to systemic organ failure, kills more than 258,000 Americans every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making it the ninth-leading cause of disease-related deaths in the country. While most people can fully recover from sepsis, some survivors are left with permanent organ damage or missing limbs due to amputation.

You could save your own life, simply by knowing what sepsis is

The signs of sepsis can be broken down in a simple acronym, notes the CDC.

S - Shivering, fever, or feeling very cold
E - Extreme pain or general discomfort, as in “worst ever”
P - Pale or discolored skin
S - Sleepy, difficult to wake up or confused
I - “I feel like I might die”
S - Shortness of breath