Early life
Duke was born Anna Marie Duke in Elmhurst, Queens, New York, the daughter of Frances (née McMahon), a cashier, and John Patrick Duke, a handyman and cab driver.[1][2][page needed] Her father was Irish American and her maternal grandmother was German.[2][page needed]
Duke experienced a childhood of hard times. Her father was an alcoholic, and her mother suffered from clinical depression and was prone to violence. When Duke was 6, her mother threw her father out; when she was 8, her mother turned Duke's care over to John and Ethel Ross, who became her managers. The Rosses recognized her talent and promoted her as a child actress.[3]
The Rosses' methods were often unscrupulous and exploitive; they consistently billed Duke as two years younger than she was, and padded her resume with some false credits.[4] It was Ethel Ross who gave the sweeping name-change order, "Anna Marie is dead, you are Patty now," hoping the change in her first name would allow her to duplicate the success of child actress Patty McCormack.[5] This act would have painful repercussions for Duke in the decades to come.[5]
Career
Duke was born Anna Marie Duke in Elmhurst, Queens, New York, the daughter of Frances (née McMahon), a cashier, and John Patrick Duke, a handyman and cab driver.[1][2][page needed] Her father was Irish American and her maternal grandmother was German.[2][page needed]
Duke experienced a childhood of hard times. Her father was an alcoholic, and her mother suffered from clinical depression and was prone to violence. When Duke was 6, her mother threw her father out; when she was 8, her mother turned Duke's care over to John and Ethel Ross, who became her managers. The Rosses recognized her talent and promoted her as a child actress.[3]
The Rosses' methods were often unscrupulous and exploitive; they consistently billed Duke as two years younger than she was, and padded her resume with some false credits.[4] It was Ethel Ross who gave the sweeping name-change order, "Anna Marie is dead, you are Patty now," hoping the change in her first name would allow her to duplicate the success of child actress Patty McCormack.[5] This act would have painful repercussions for Duke in the decades to come.[5]
Career
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