Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke

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Random House Publishing Group, Apr 13, 2011 - Biography & Autobiography - 320 pages
The Star: The public saw her as a gifted child  star: the youngest actor to win an Oscar for her role  as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker and the  youngest actor to have a prime-time television series  bearing her own name.

The Nightmare: What the public did not see was Anna Marie Duke, a young girl whose life changed forever at age seven when tyrannical mangers stripped her of nearly all that was  familiar, beginning with her name. She was deprived of family and friends. Her every word was  programmed, her every action monitored and criticized. She was fed liquor and prescription drugs, taught to lie to get work, and relentlessly drilled to win roles.

The Legend: Out of this nightmare emerged  Patty Duke, a show business legend still searching for the child, Anna. She won three Emmy Awards and divorced three husbands. A starring role in Valley of the Dolls nearly ruined her career. She was notorious for wild spending sprees, turbulent liaisons, and an uncontrollable temper. Until a long hidden illness was diagnosed, and her amazing recovery recovery began.

The Triumph: Call Me Anna is an American success story that grew out of a bizarre and desperate struggle for survival. A harrowing, ultimately triumphant story told by Patty Duke herself—wife, mother, political activist, President of the Screen Actors Guild, and at last, a happy, fulfilled woman whose miracle is her own life.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
5
Section 2
14
Section 3
18
Section 4
23
Section 5
32
Section 6
40
Section 7
50
Section 8
58
Section 22
154
Section 23
159
Section 24
166
Section 25
176
Section 26
189
Section 27
200
Section 28
208
Section 29
217

Section 9
66
Section 10
78
Section 11
87
Section 12
98
Section 13
105
Section 14
127
Section 15
153
Section 16
154
Section 17
154
Section 18
154
Section 19
154
Section 20
154
Section 21
154
Section 30
221
Section 31
228
Section 32
233
Section 33
239
Section 34
246
Section 35
251
Section 36
260
Section 37
268
Section 38
279
Section 39
285
Section 40
291
Section 41
300
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About the author (2011)

Patty Duke (1946–2016) was a true show business legend whose career spanned six decades. Her Oscar win for her role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker made her, at the time, the youngest Academy Award winner. She also entered the history books as the youngest person to have a show bearing her full name, with The Patty Duke Show, on which she played genetically unexplainable identical cousins. In addition to her acting, she became the second woman ever elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.

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