Patty Duke Books

This is an interesting book to read especially if you are a fan of actress Patty Duke. It does cover most of her extensive work in films, television and on stage. And, an impressive career it is indeed. It even covers Patty's years as a recording artist for United Artists Records. However, there is no photo copy of her popular album, SONGS FROM VALLEY OF THE DOLLS and this seems like a strange ommision. Other than that it is a book worth having in your own private library.

Stephen Eberly has not only mastered the art of Patty Duke, but is also modest in leaving out that he is a wonderful french teacher at a high school! BRAVO STEPHEN!!! we're waiting for the next one!

-an avid reader, maria Iavosa

This is the perfect book for those who want to know all about Patty Duke's intensive work in all the different aspects of the entertainment world. It is well written and covers the actress life both personal and professionally. I enjoyed reading it.

Celebrities who come out about a physical or mental illness help us get past shame, but Patty Duke does a lot more in this autobiography where she alternates her memories with professionally written chapters about bipolar illness. As a mental health advocate, I recommend this book especially to give to people with the illness who aren't ready for technical or self-help books.

I just finished this book, and I thought it was very readable and an excellent memoir describing issues related to bipolar. The honesty with which the book is written is commendable. I highly recommend it for anyone wishing to learn more about this disorder and how helpful appropriate treatment can be.

This book is both entertaining and informative with loads of references and resources....I highly recommend it, especially for someone just starting the research into what this desease is all about.

If you want to know some of the unbelieveable, unbearable pain and suffering of an un-treated manic-depressive, read this book. How Patty Duke lived to tell her story is a miracle. Thank God she finally found her way out of her madness She gives hope to her fellow sufferers. From the perspective of gut-wrenching pain just reading her account, the book works wonderfully. But as a narrative, I found it hard to follow. I felt jerked around from eposide to eposide. There didn't seem to be a timeline I could follow to know what happened, when. Also, it was very distracting to have to plow through the pages of medical, technical information that were dispersed throughout the book. Overall, it's a fine description of the illness, but frustrating to read.

Can someone please give this book to Britney Spears? I'm not joking. I first read this book about 9 years ago when I was studying psychology in college and it was always one of my very favorite books on this subject. Because Ms. Duke is able to speak to the reader in such simple (yet interesting) words. Except for the old-fashioned term "manic depressive illness" (according to the APA, the correct term is bipolar, which sounds way more PC) this book is totally on the money. Another great book I recommend is Undercurrents: A Life Beneath the Surface. In 2008 it seems rather common for celebrities to discuss their dementia, and anything else that the public wants to know. So it may seem hard to fathom that less than thirty years ago none of this was discussed publicly because it was considered "career suicide." But Patty Duke was the very first star who candidly discussed her own mental illness in her autobiography . In my eyes, she is a true shero.

I bought this book years ago but re-read when a friend of mine was diagnosed with Manic-Depression/Bi-Polarism. The show business aspect of he story alone is quite involving as Ms. Duke realistcally depicts both the postive & negative aspects of being a celebrity at such a young age. Even though she became famous for being on Broadway & showing her incredible ability & dedication in portraying Helen Keller,she wasn't ,due her the Ross's (her business managers/surrogate parents) complete control over her, allowed to feel worthy of her sucess. Later on,her manic episodes are very well-depicted and her struggle to gain control over her life shows that in spite of her illness,her own personal strength,acting talent, motherhood(plus a wonderfully wry sense of humor) helped her overcome her demons and finally, get a proper diagnosis. Patty Duke shows herself to be an intelligent,honest woman and an inspiration to people with both Bi-polar disorder (& dysfunctional childhoods as well)

The book was very well written with great descriptions of what was going on during the times I remember seeing her movies and hearing/reading "entertainment news." I had no idea what she was going through, other than a couple of divorces. What a hard time she had growing up and what a survivor! This should give hope to those with bipolar disorder or family/friends of someone suffering from bipolar disorder.

"Call Me Anna" is Patty's own story. Patty Duke wrote this book in 1988 long before it was fashionable to "tell all" like today's throwaway "stars" do.

Like millions of Americans, Patty Duke has always been one of my most cherished TV actresses because her talent is so deep and thought-provoking. But I never knew much about her, until I read "Call Me Anna."

"Call Me Anna" describes Patty's rise to TV stardom (playing the title character on the classic "Patty Duke Show") and subsequent fall, partly due to her illness. Patty talks candidly for the first time about the bridges she burned, and the people she hurt while she struggled with her disease, bipolar disorder.

Patty was one of the very first (if not the first?) bona fide celebrities to discuss their own mental illness. And she was a pioneer in the rights of the mentally ill, and for that she should be highly regarded.

I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading about TV stars, or anyone who cares about someone who is struggling with mental illness (especially bipolar disorder). I also recommend Patty's second book, "Brilliant Madness" which describes the disease in a more clinical manner.

"What's in a name?" Shakespeare's question gets a different answer in this autobiography, when a little girl named Anna Marie Duke is told by her managers, "Anna Marie is dead. You're Patty now." It starts there, the stripping away of a child's identity so that the managers can rebuild her to their own specifications. The one thing that makes this child worth the effort, though, is there already: phenomenal acting talent. The kind of talent that makes Patty Duke a Broadway star at twelve, and an Oscar-winner at sixteen.

Alcoholism and mental illness surround her in childhood, and breaking away from her managers (who become her surrogate parents early on) just before her eighteenth birthday sets her adrift in a world for which she is totally unprepared. Pat, as she calls herself then, marries early and almost doesn't make the tricky transition from child star to adult actress. Disastrous career decisions, broken relationships, financial debacles - they're all here, and Ms. Duke recounts them without flinching. But running throughout her life story are other threads, the ones that keep her going until the manic depression that causes her roller coaster behavior is finally diagnosed and treated. This woman loves her craft, and she adores her children. Thanks to those two loves, she survives and eventually rediscovers herself. Not Patty; not Pat. Anna Marie.

So many celebrity biographies end with an overdose of pills or booze, or a car crash, or a razor blade in a bathtub. I found it refreshing to read this outwardly similar tale, which ends instead with a life rebuilt. With - corny as this is going to sound - a new beginning.

Born poor and surrounded by addicts and illness, young Anna Marie Duke drifted into the arms of a society-busy married couple wanting to represent her in show business; they were odd social climbers who nonchalantly took away Duke's identity and gave her a made-up existence that crumbled once the photographers went home. A few of Duke's stories, while never less than candid and darkly amusing, are nearly too wild to believe(or maybe that's because they seem half-finished, as with the story of a motel molestation attempt or a day at a doctor's office where Patty's grandmother was deeply shaken after being forced into a strange contraption apparently meant to subdue her). Patty the Singer gets a colorful chapter(she hated her records for the UA label)and the chaos surrounding "Valley of the Dolls" is wonderfully captured. The final chapters skitter over her mental illness and a new marriage, and Patty doesn't delve much into her feelings as a woman(having her second child seemed to help her blossom, but we don't feel her passion, mostly her drive, her unfocused ambition and her neuroses). Still, she's a charming writer and has a sly way with a story(her roots are very important to her, and she's fine as a leader or a follower, but she never loses her vitality or funny malice).