25 Movie Talents We Lost In 2016

Patty Duke got her big screen debut at the tender age of twelve in the 1958 musical Country Music Holiday and the Academy Award nominated drama The Goddess, in which she played a younger version of a characters loosely based on Marilyn Monroe.

At just sixteen years old, Duke scooped an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Helen Keller in stage play adaptation The Miracle Worker, becoming the then youngest person to ever receive the award.

She later starred as Neely O’Hara in the 1967 camp cult classic Valley of the Dolls and after being diagnosed with manic depression in the early 1980s, Duke became an ardent mental health activist while continuing a prolific television career.