In the Presence of Greatness

My Sixty-Year Journey as an Actress

By: Patty Duke, William J. Jankowski

Narrated by: Kathy Garver

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Patty first gained national attention and praise playing Helen Keller in both the Broadway stage and film versions of The Miracle Worker. As identical cousins on The Patty Duke Show, her name became an American household word. Her later work in Valley of the Dolls, Me, Natalie, My Sweet Charlie, a later television remake of The Miracle Worker, and dozens of other productions established her as one of America’s leading actresses.

Patty’s previous autobiographical works, Call Me Anna and A Brilliant Madness, achieved New York Times best-seller status. Now, her indelible show-business legacy echoes enduringly with untold stories of her six-decade career and the legends of her time, including Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Helen Hayes, Fred Astaire, Anne Bancroft, Judy Garland, President John F. Kennedy, Helen Keller, Margaret Cho, Garth Brooks, Gloria Vanderbilt, Lucille Ball, Darren Criss, Richard Crenna, Patricia Neal, Liza Minnelli, and Helen Hunt. For the first time, Patty also talks openly of her friendship with actress Sharon Tate and her grisly murder at the hands of Charles Manson.

©2018 by Ben Omart (P)2021 BearManor Media

Great Book

A must listen for fans and those who love film and television. This is the final book by Oscar and Emmy winning actress and best selling author Patty Duke. She was working on this book with her long time assistant collaborator Bill Jankowski at the time of unexpected passing. This book is a master class in film and television history and the journey of one the greatest actress in the history of film and television. Over a career that lasted six decades Patty Duke became icon.

Disappointing

Having been a huge Patty Duke fan and a lover of her book "Call Me Anna" this was extremely disappointing both to read and to listen to. It just felt like she needed the money so she wrote a book.. I became extremely bored with "I knew this famous person" and "I knew that famous person" and she had really liked to have worked with them or worked with them one more time. I'm sorry she died before the author was quite finished with her yet, but in the end it just wasn't well written and was poorly edited. To top it all off it was extremely poorly read. Sorry Anna, but this was not your finest work.

not what I expected

did not like the reader and the way this book was written seemed very disjointed

Very interesting stories and thoroughly enjoyable

And I thoroughly enjoyed hearing more about Patty Duke. It was wonderfully written, and wonderfully presented. I would highly recommend it.

I’m Still Scratching My Head Over This One

Patty Duke was a hard act to follow, much less to imitate. I don’t know who chose this narrator, but the decision to give the job to Kathy Garver was unfortunate. I was so unnerved and agitated by the sound of Garver’s voice that I couldn’t force myself to listen to Anna’s commentary beyond the first few names in the long list of celebrities. I feel cheated, because I would like to know what she said about them. I’ll certainly buy the print copy. Could they possibly have found a voice more unlike Patty Duke? I’m still scratching my head over this one. Kathy Garver has proven her talent as an actress but her voice is too unlike the Patty we remember. I get the impression that this was a rush job, and rather than take their time to do it right, somebody used poor judgment. The importance of one’s voice to those who care cannot be exaggerated. We shouldn’t expect an exact impersonation, but neither should we settle for too much dissonance. On the positive side, I’m thankful for the book and it’s memorial to a lovable actress of great substance and courage.