“𝐈’𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 (𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐃𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰), 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧-𝐮𝐩 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞. 𝐁𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫!”
Patty Duke as pill-popping Hollywood star Neely O'Hara and Susan Hayward as "Broadway barracuda" Helen Lawson in the 20th Century Fox/Mark Robson camp classic Valley of The Dolls, 1967. Adapted from the Jacqueline Susann mega-bestselling novel of the same name, the movie was a box office hit despite being savaged by film critics. Only 21 years old at the time, struggling with her own yet to be diagnosed bipolar disorder, and playing her first adult role after years as a child star (she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award at the age of sixteen for her role as Helen Keller in 1962's The Miracle Worker), Duke gave it her all and chewed the scenery as the troubled, temperamental Neely. Following the film's premiere, critics unfairly aimed a number of poison-penned barbs her way, singling out her performance as "over-the-top" and "truly awful". Embarrassed by the reviews and ashamed of herself, Duke distanced herself from Valley of the Dolls for decades, cringing whenever the movie was mentioned. Later in life when gay friends and fans clued her in about how beloved the movie was in the lgbtq+ community and that it was considered a "camp classic", Patty re-evaluated her feelings toward the movie and ultimately embraced the film and attended special screenings of Valley of the Dolls in Chicago and at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, basking in the love her gay fans showered her with. She later recalled her experience at the Castro Theatre screening in her 2018 book In the Presence of Greatness: My Sixty-Year Journey as an Actress (co-written by William J. Jankowski and published two years after Duke's passing at the age of 69): "I was visibly moved by the thunderous applause and standing ovation I received. That evening, people who have suffered the pain of being judged unfairly were honoring me, and I find that love that they have for me wonderfully moving. Needless to say, I had the time of my life. What do I really think of the screen version of Valley of the Dolls as a film itself? I think it was unfortunate that the realities of the circumstances that the characters were experiencing were not explored in the script, instead of the film going for the quick buck. Although at first I thought I was being really good and serious in the role, I wasn't. I gave up early on. I gave up on the character and on participating once I saw the way they were headed with handling the production. Still, I think my performance shows a certain vulnerability in the character of Neely, where even when she is doing bad things, you are still rooting for her. That's what the gay community has given back to me; the respect that, whatever the hell we did, I did the best I could under the circumstances."
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