When she walks the streets of San Francisco with her dogs, folks often do a double take. “I don’t go out every day,” says Patty Duke who left her home in Idaho to take up residence in the city’s Russian Hill neighborhood.
Preparation for her role as Madame Morrible in the hit musical Wicked is critical. “In the beginning, my Morrible is very friendly, says Duke. “But, as time goes by you get to see under the surface that this is a sick lady.”
In many ways things have come full circle for Patty. She’s living in the same San Francisco neighborhood where the pilot for the Patty Duke Show was filmed. They ended up setting the show in New York, but she’ll always remember shooting one particular scene on Lombard St. where they had her do over a dozen takes.
“That was great until they wanted to do it again, and the only way back is up the crookedest street in the world,” she says.
The Patty Duke Show is soon to be released on DVD and is something of a time capsule for when TV portrayed a simpler, more innocent version of the American family.
“I’m praying that if the DVD goes well that, that kind of idea can at least be in someone’s home again,” says Duke who for the time being is thrilled to be making San Francisco her home.
