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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 792.0280924
EAN num: 9780553272055
ISBN number: 0553272055
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: May 01, 1988
Publishing house: Bantam
Release Date: May 01, 1988
Sale Popularity Level: 112481
Studio: Bantam
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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.
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Rated by buyers 
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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)
Rated by buyers -
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.
Rated by buyers -
"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 very 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 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.
Rated by buyers 
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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 endeavor 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).
Rated by buyers -
"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.
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