Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504040009
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK DAWIDZIAK KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
With several successful miniseries and TV movies on her resume, Duke at first was cool to the offer of another series.
Her answer to NBC executives was terse and direct: No.
``What will it take for you to do a television series?'' they asked.
``I don't want to,'' replied the prime-time veteran whose resume includes such series as ``The Patty Duke Show'' (ABC, 1963-66), ``It Takes Two'' (ABC, 1982-83), ``Hail to the Chief'' (ABC, 1985) and ``Karen's Song'' (Fox, 1987).
``Yeah, but what would it take?'' persisted the NBC executives.
``You'd have to shoot it in my back yard,'' replied Duke, who lives near the Idaho town of Coeur d'Alene.
``OK,'' they said, ``move on to the next topic.''
Duke kept listing demands. NBC kept saying, ``OK.''
``And I found out that I had a price,'' Duke told critics in Los Angeles.
This was just the first demonstration of NBC's faith in Duke and ``Amazing Grace,'' which will premiere tonight at 8 (on WSLS-Channel 10). The series was to be on the network's fall 1994 schedule, but nobody was happy with the scripts.
Rather than drop the project, NBC amazed Duke by giving her team a grace period to improve ``Amazing Grace.''
``I was delighted that NBC was willing to hang in there and revamp the show to all of our specifications,'' Duke said, ``even when there were moments when I thought, `Well, that's the end of that.'''
Duke, an executive producer on the series, stars as Hannah Miller, a single mother trying to put her life back on track after a painful divorce and an addiction to prescription drugs. A near-death experience led Hannah to reconsider her priorities and become a minister.
The men in her life are played by Dan Lauria (Jack Arnold on ``The Wonder Years'') and Joe Spano (Henry Goldblume on ``Hill Street Blues'').
If you don't see Duke listed as a producer, don't get confused. Stop when you see the name Anna Pearce.
``My name is Anna-Marie Patty Duke Pearce,'' she said. ``Anna Pearce is Patty Duke.''
Both Anna Pearce the producer and Patty Duke the star know that ``Amazing Grace'' is arriving at a time when ``family values'' is a term being claimed by the political right and left.
``Those are all catch phrases,'' Duke said. ``Hannah, to me, lives the Golden Rule ... whether that comes under religion or spirituality or morality or just good sense, that's who she is.''
Duke is no newcomer to dramas about strong faith and values. In 1959, she starred on Broadway as Helen Keller in ``The Miracle Worker.''
In 1963, she won an Oscar for playing Helen in director Arthur Penn's film adaptation. In 1980, she won her fourth Emmy for playing Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher, in the TV version of ``The Miracle Worker.''
Her other Emmys are for ``The Patty Duke Show,'' the TV movie ``My Sweet Charlie'' and the miniseries ``Captains and the Kings.''
Still, even though faith and values will be explored in ``Amazing Grace,'' Hannah will not represent a specific faith. So the series has been accused of embracing religion in general while ``running away from God'' on specifics.
``We don't run away from God,'' Duke said. ``The woman is a minister!
``To suggest that one must spout Moses or Jesus or Buddha or chant like Tibetan monks in order to be religious, I believe, is not to walk in the path of Christ.''
While the series is not willing to get specific about religion, Duke is: ``I was born into a Roman Catholic family, and I was one of the best little Catholic believers. I would like to be her again one day.
``I have been a Christian Scientist. If there's a religious definition of `dabbler,' I guess that would be me. I have studied Buddhism. There was a time when I very seriously considered Judaism.
``And, yes, I do go to church now. I go to a Unity Church. I also go to Catholic church occasionally because the child in me desperately needs the bells and smells.''
``The Amazing Grace'' star believes ``that it became chic to make fun of'' religion in Hollywood, and she thinks her NBC series can show spirituality as ``a plus and not some terrible - forgive the pun - cross to bear.''
by CNB