Patty Duke left behind an amazingly diverse body of work. An overachiever, she hit a home run with her first film- The Miracle Worker, becoming the youngest winner of the Supporting Actress Oscar at that time, playing Helen Keller.
The interest generated by her success resulted in her iconic television show The Patty Duke Show. After her television show concluded, she chose to break her childhood image by taking a role in The Valley of the Dolls, a trashy adult film based on the trashy novel. It succeeded in breaking her squeaky clean image despite being a hellish film to make due to the difficult director. Patty became close friends with her co-stars due to their mutual hardship. Her friendship with Sharon Tate would prove to be tragic. Patty had planned to sell her house to Sharon Tate, but pulled out of the deal when she chose to temporarily reconcile with her then husband. The decision would lead to Sharon Tate choosing to rent a different house- the one in which she was tragically murdered. Ms. Duke spoke of the guilt she felt for years afterwards.
