We mourn the loss of Oscar-winner Patty Duke, who played the part of the blind and deaf child Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, first on the Broadway stage and then on film. Her discovery of language as the water from the pump poured over her hand, is one of the most memorable scenes in the history of film. Her autobiography, Call Me Anna, told the harrowing story of how her unstable mother essentially turned her over at age seven to talent managers who were explotive and abusive. Her name was Anna, but they decided Patty was more suitable. They pushed her, drilled, her, controlled every minute of her time and everything she wore and said. They also gave her alcohol and pills, abused her, and stole the money she earned. The book was adapted as a movie for television and she played herself as an adult.
She was fierce and fearless as Helen Keller.
In a remake, she played Annie Sullivan, opposite Melissa Gilbert as Helen.
As a young woman, the managers had her playing identical cousins in a silly but very popular sitcom.
She left her squeeky-clean image behind by playing a drug-addicted singing star in the trashy Valley of the Dolls.
She later developed substance abuse problems and was diagnosed as bipolar at age 35. She co-wrote a book about mental illness and became an advocate for destigmatizing mental disorders and for her fellow actors as the head of the Screen Actors Guild.
One of the greatest movie composers of all time, James Horner, died this week in a plane crash. His compositions added enormous depth and emotion to some of the all-time critical and audience triumphs, including the movie that broke the box office record, “Titanic,” and the movie that broke that record, “Avatar.” His films include grand, sweeping epics, historical sagas, science fiction adventures, intimate dramas, and even an animated film for families (“An American Tail”). Vanity Fair has a very thoughtful tribute with some of the best examples of his work. He will be sorely missed.
Today we mourn the loss of actress/comedian Anne Meara, wife of Jerry Stiller and mother of actor/director Ben Stiller.
Stiller and Meara were a comedy team who appeared frequently on the Ed Sullivan show. Their humor often focused on their differences as a couple — she was Irish Catholic and he was Jewish. This bit from the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was inspired by an early precursor to eHarmony and Match.com.
She was a very gifted actress. She appeared opposite Robert De Niro and Robin Williams in “Awakenings.” I think her best dramatic performance is in The Daytrippers, as the neurotic mother of two daughters played by Hope Davis and Parker Posey.
The world lost one of the funniest and most creative men in broadcasting, Stan Freberg, who died today at age 88. One of the great thrills of my life was seeing Mr. Freberg at Comic-Con, and seeing the wildly enthusiastic audience let him know how much he was loved.
During the Mad Men era, he was responsible for some of television’s most memorable ads, like these:
When I worked at my high school radio station, we used to play this classic Freberg demonstration of the power of radio.
His fresh, brash, innovative style inspired many of the most subversively delicious comedy of the next generation. The Beatles said they were fans. And so were parodists like Weird Al Yankovic, who paid tribute to Freberg on Twitter.
Very sad to say that one of my absolute all-time heroes has just passed away. RIP Stan Freberg. A legend, an inspiration, and a friend.
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, as the neurotic mother of two daughters played by Hope Davis and Parker Posey.