Show Week of Sunday November Ir7TT T 1990 11 PAGE 3 boyttlist6k1 Patty Duke tells her own story of manic depression ONPONEIENNWIENEMIONIONNEkoniollaall By Nancy McAlister As a child Patty Duke dazzled Broadway and film audiences with her portrayal of young Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker" Later in her youth e cousins Patty and she played Cathy on "The Patty Duke Show" now playing in reruns on Nick at Nite k4 ' :"2'"''''''' m In "Call Me Anna" (Sunday evening ' on ABC) the actress turns inward to portray the most personal of roles -- herself This is the story of Ms Duke's turbulent battle against mental illness Based on her best-sellin- A f7 look-alik- o 4PlieN 4 '14 A () 4 1 (1 N4‘ 1 g autobiography the TV movie details the life oft shy abused child thrust toward stardom and ultimately the crumbling world of a manic depressive Anna Marie Duke now 43 has an Oscar and three Emmys as testament to a successful acting career She was only the second woman in the history of the tieglmIv'''''4' - Screen Actors Guild to serve as president But it is her victory over mental illness that is perhaps Ms Duke's greatest achievement "Call Me Anna" is both a catharsis and an open letter to the world "It really is important to me that this be a story about anybody" she said in a press conference in regard to manic depression 'Because it could be anybody les 40 million Americans a year" Ms Duke was 19 years old when she was first hospitalized for her dramatic mood swings A diagnosis of manic depression was not made until 1982 public she has testified before the US Senate about problems facing the mentally Anna became a victim at age 9 when according to this account personal managers John and Ethel Ross (Deborah May and Howard Hesseman) molded her into the perfect child actress Separated from her family and subjected to emotional and sexual abuse she eventually was introduced to prescription drugs and alcohol Shown is her highly publicized relationship with Desi Arnaz Jr An attempted suicide and a failed marriage to actor John Astin preceded her treatment by a tes"4144-1::0' i I 404 J 3 ' a Lk 'WO410 : flk44NL pre-seas- however She began taking lithium within two days a treatment she maintains Since her illness became k3 resk — An - Meyers Patty Duke and Sunday evening on ABC -- - Jenny Robertson star In "Call Me Anna" sympathetic psychiatrist (Karl Malden) In "Call Me Anna" An Meyers portrays Ms Duke as a teenager and Jenny Robertson plays her as a young woman In depicting herself as an adult Ms Duke said she looked back at "a very long time of garbage and dreck" in her life and was able to laugh But there were also the tears "They are tears of relief" she said confidently "There is nothing quite like the moment when my illness finally had a name And I was told that it had a treatment" For a time after her diagnosis Ms Duke insisted upon being addressed by her real first name Now she said she is comfortable with all the identities assigned her from Patty to Anna to Mommy She has even learned to be comfortable with recognition that has come from the Nickelodeon reruns of her 1963-6- 5 ABC series At the time "The Patty Duke Show" was produced she despised the idea of playing a in part because she didn't teeny-bopp- er know how to be one she said "I hated everything about it except the people on the set So now I can even look at "The Patty Duke Show" and see some of the value that it had and get some laughs out of the ugly hairdos" she said "I mean there is something awfully nice to be said about a whole new generation knowing that you exist" ON THE COVER Patty Duke stars in "Call Me Anna" being presented Sunday evening on ABC |