Huckleberries: Hucks has been a FOP (Friend of Patty) through the years

Patty Duke’s name has appeared in this column many times since Sept. 26, 1994, when I mentioned that I’d bought her album (featuring 1965 hit single “Don’t Just Stand There”) at a garage sale. For 50 cents. Later, Patty, or more appropriately, Anna Pearce, would autograph that album for me through an intermediary, Mike Kennedy, her nephew and former Coeur d’Alene councilman. The inscription mentions another Huckleberry (April 3, 1995) that I’d written about her, after her horses wandered from her ranch. Anna died last week at Kootenai Health. In memory of this wonderful actress and person, I’ve compiled some Huckleberries that mentioned her through the years:

Move over, Oscar

Jan. 19, 2004: You know that Anna Pearce (aka, Patty Duke) is using eBay to auction her 40-acre Hayden ranch. But did you know she has a special place at home for her Academy Award statue? And that she’s placed a figurine of Hobbit Samwise Gamgee next to her Oscar? Anyone who follows Huckleberries knows Anna is the mother of Sean Astin, the actor who played Sam in director Peter Jackson’s amazing “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Anna was so impressed by Sean’s performance in the final movie, “The Return of the King,” that she moved the Hobbit figure closer to her Oscar for good luck. She believes sonny boy has a real shot at his own Oscar as a supporting actor. Said Anna of Sean’s performance in LORIII: “I was blown away. It was his movie.” Bingo.

Heightening

June 6, 2005: You may have read that Congressman Butch Otter and Anna Pearce (aka actress Patty Duke, of Coeur d’Alene) are spearheading an effort to preserve 80,000 acres in the St. Joe River Basin. But you probably didn’t read about the heightening device used by Anna at the press conference. After Butch finished his remarks, Anna, who possibly reaches 5 feet on her toes, approached the mike carrying a box – so she could see over the podium. A natural ham, she got well-deserved laughs for the prop, delivered her speech and was picking up the box to return to her seat when Roger Hoesterey/Trust for Public Land shouted: “If you left that here, I could be as tall as Congressman Otter.” It’s nice to see that lanky Congressman Otter mingles with the little people.

One Patano, two …

March 14, 2005: The best line of the evening at Lake City High’s brilliant production of “Seussical” Saturday was delivered after the show while tickets were being drawn for 10 various prizes – by a bona fide star. After LCHS actors picked a ticket purchased by one of the (Patano family) twice in a row, a familiar voice singsonged from the audience, “One Patano, two Patano …” Yeah, it was Oscar winning actress Anna (Patty Duke) Pearce, who summed up Blair Bybee’s play that night in a word: “wonderful.”

A proud aunt

April 22, 2012: Actress/resident Patty Duke is among the growing number of individuals and groups opposing the Coeur d’Alene recall (attempt against then-Mayor Sandi Bloem and three council members, including Mike Kennedy): “I am the proud aunt of City Councilman Mike Kennedy,” she wrote to the Coeur d’Alene Press. “Having stated that, I do recognize that our familial bond does not require me to forfeit my citizenship in Coeur d’Alene and the rights afforded me.”

In parting

Dec. 18, 2011: Many in Coeur d’Alene who know Patty Duke also know that Coeur d’Alene Councilman Mike Kennedy is her nephew. Aunt Patty began following Mike on Twitter last week. Which prompted this tweet from Mike on Thursday: “This sucks. I can’t curse on Twitter any more because my aunt is following and will call my mother.”

Follow Dave Oliveria’s blog, Huckleberries Online, at www. spokesman.com/blogs/hbo.