The following year, she played the dual role of "identical cousins" Cathy and Patty Lane on her own network television series The Patty Duke Show β From to , she served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Duke was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in Following her diagnosis, she devoted much of her time to advocating for and educating the public on mental health. She was also an occasional singer and author.
She was raised Roman Catholic. Duke spent her early life in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens , [ 2 ] where her brother Raymond, her sister Carol, and she experienced a difficult childhood. Their father was an alcoholic, and their mother suffered from clinical depression and was prone to violence. When Duke was six, her mother forced her father to leave the family home. When Duke was eight, her care was turned over to talent managers John and Ethel Ross who, after promoting Patty's brother, were looking for a girl to add to their stable of child actors.
The Rosses' methods of managing Duke's career were often unscrupulous and exploitative. They consistently billed Duke as being two years younger than she actually was and padded her resume with false credits. One of Duke's early acting roles was in the late s on the soap opera The Brighter Day. Duke eventually testified before congressional investigators and broke into tears when she admitted she had been coached to speak falsely. Also in , Duke appeared in a television adaptation of Meet Me in St.
Duke originated the role of Keller on Broadway, although Patty McCormack actually originated the role in its earlier original presentation as a live television drama on Playhouse Scott in a television production of The Power and the Glory The series premiered two years after Parent Trap , in September At that time, Duke had not been diagnosed as having bipolar disorder , but Sheldon did notice that she had two distinct sides to her personality, so he developed the concept of identical cousins with contrasting personalities.
The series lasted three seasons and earned Duke an Emmy Award nomination. While the film has since become a camp classic βthanks in large part to Duke's over-the-top performance [ 19 ] βat the time it almost ruined her career.
