Patty Duke Show, The


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About

All one needs to say is "identical cousins" and The Patty Duke Show comes to mind. The 1963 sitcom starred Patty Duke as both Patty and Cathy Lane: Patty was a typical teenager from Brooklyn Heights, New York, and cousin Cathy moved from Scotland to live with Patty's family and attend Brooklyn Heights High School. Cathy had traveled the world with her journalist father and embodied a certain sophistication not found in Patty; the two girls looked the same, but had wildly different tastes (as we learned from the show's theme song). The remarkable resemblance between the cousins was explained by the fact that Patty and Cathy's fathers were identical twins.

Writer/producer Sidney Sheldon was approached to create a program specifically for Patty Duke, who was sixteen years old when the series entered production. After seeing Duke's incredible work in The Miracle Worker, Sheldon was convinced that she was capable of playing a dual role and came up with the concept of a show revolving around identical twins. According to Sheldon, William Asher added the idea of cousins into the mix. Hence one of the most implausible, yet delightful premises in all of television was born.

Much like the introductions to Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, the theme song to The Patty Duke Show explained the program's premise, outlining the similarities and differences between the teens: "Meet Cathy, who's lived most everywhere / From Zanzibar to Berk'ly Square / But Patty's only seen the sights / A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights / What a crazy pair! …"

The show premiered in 1963 on ABC and lasted three seasons. Yet after the show left the air, television viewers would still be treated to more identical cousins: Samantha and Serena on Bewitched. And on I Dream of Jeannie, Sidney Sheldon would again have his lead actress play two roles, this time with Barbara Eden playing both Jeannie and her evil, dark-haired twin, also named Jeannie.

Television loves "matching bookends, different as night and day."

Co-Creators: Sidney Sheldon and William Asher

Starring: Patty Duke, William Schallert, Jean Byron, Paul O'Keefe, Eddie Applegate 

Programming History: 105 episodes, 3 seasons, ABC

September 18, 1963 to May 4, 1966. Reruns aired through August 31, 1966. 

- by Adrienne Faillace

Highlights
Patty Duke on the premise of The Patty Duke Show and "Cathy" being her favorite
01:23
William Schallert on why "Martin Lane" on The Patty Duke Show resonated with audiences
00:42
William Asher on the origins of The Patty Duke Show
07:48
Eddie Kean on his children loving The Patty Duke Show and arranging for his children to meet Patty Duke
07:42
Who talked about this show

William Asher

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William Asher on co-creating The Patty Duke Show
02:44
William Asher on the origins of The Patty Duke Show
07:48

Larry Auerbach

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Larry Auerbach on packaging The Patty Duke Show
03:49

Bruce Bilson

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Bruce Bilson on directing The Patty Duke Show
04:37

Robert E. Costello

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Bob Costello on producing The Patty Duke Show for a year
10:02

Patty Duke

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Patty Duke on the premise of The Patty Duke Show and "Cathy" being her favorite
01:23
Patty Duke on the origins of The Patty Duke Show
02:15
Patty Duke on the identical cousins on The Patty Duke Show representing both sides of her real personality and the "Patty" character having a much more average childhood than she had
02:56
Patty Duke on the challenges of playing two characters on The Patty Duke Show
02:23
Patty Duke on copying a famous scene from I Love Lucy on The Patty Duke Show
01:28
Patty Duke on the technical aspects of playing two characters on The Patty Duke Show
00:58
Patty Duke on the technical aspects of playing identical cousins on The Patty Duke Show
05:06
Patty Duke on initially filming The Patty Duke Show in New York because of child labor laws
00:35
Patty Duke on how the characters evolved over the course of The Patty Duke Show
00:33
Patty Duke on the popularity of The Patty Duke Show
01:35
Patty Duke on not being allowed to watch The Patty Duke Show
01:27
Patty Duke on what fans of The Patty Duke Show said/say to her
01:30
Patty Duke on the merchandising on The Patty Duke Show (including making records)
02:01
Patty Duke on the atmosphere on the set of The Patty Duke Show
01:27
Patty Duke on the cast of The Patty Duke Show - Jean Byron
00:41
Patty Duke on the cast of The Patty Duke Show
01:50
Patty Duke on working with the directors on The Patty Duke Show
00:31
Patty Duke on her managers' involvement with The Patty Duke Show and firing her managers when she turned eighteen
05:16
Patty Duke on favorite memories from The Patty Duke Show
00:43
Patty Duke on fans of The Patty Duke Show
00:35
Patty Duke on the theme song The Patty Duke Show
00:18
Patty Duke on the 1999 reunion movie of The Patty Duke Show
02:00

Chuck Fries

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Chuck Fries on Sidney Sheldon, creator of I Dream of Jeannie and The Patty Duke Show
04:57

Eddie Kean

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Eddie Kean on his children loving The Patty Duke Show and arranging for his children to meet Patty Duke
07:42

Howard Morris

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Howard Morris on directing The Patty Duke Show, and on directing Bewitched, starring Elizabeth Montgomery
01:49

William Schallert

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William Schallert on being second choice for many of the roles for which he's well known, including his role on The Patty Duke Show
00:24
William Schallert on how he got hired for The Patty Duke Show
03:33
William Schallert on how he got the role for The Patty Duke Show; on the premise and theme song of the show
06:37
William Schallert on why The Patty Duke Show shot in New York; on Patty Duke and his character on the show
08:12
William Schallert on his co-stars on The Patty Duke Show; on how scenes with the identical cousins were shot; on his favorite episodes and his character "Martin Lane"; on reuniting for a TV movie of The Patty Duke Show
08:22

Sidney Sheldon

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Sidney Sheldon on meeting Patty Duke and getting the idea for The Patty Duke Show
04:08
Sidney Sheldon on wanting to write all the scripts for The Patty Duke Show
01:05
Sidney Sheldon on developing I Dream of Jeannie while still writing for The Patty Duke Show
01:50
Sidney Sheldon on Patty Duke's difficult childhood and how her managers mistreated her
01:52
Sidney Sheldon on the special effects and split screens on The Patty Duke Show
00:38
Sidney Sheldon on the cast of The Patty Duke Show
02:48
Sidney Sheldon on production on The Patty Duke Show
00:46
Sidney Sheldon on writing episodes of and merchandising on The Patty Duke Show
02:26
Sidney Sheldon on not being involved with the reunion of The Patty Duke Show
00:34
Sidney Sheldon on the end of The Patty Duke Show
00:39
Sidney Sheldon on the theme song of The Patty Duke Show
00:20

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