Sandy Duncan
| Sandy Duncan | |
|---|---|
Duncan in 1972
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| Born |
Sandra Kay Duncan February 20, 1946 Henderson, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, singer, dancer, comedian |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Bruce Scott (m. 1968; div. 1972) Thomas Calcaterra (m. 1973; div. 1979) Don Correia (m. 1980) |
| Children | 2 |
Sandra Kay "Sandy" Duncan (born February 20, 1946) is an American singer, dancer, comedian and actress of stage and television. She is known for her performances in the Broadway revival of Peter Pan and in the sitcom The Hogan Family. Duncan has been nominated for three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe awards.
Duncan was born in Henderson, Texas and grew up in nearby Tyler. Her parents were Mancil Ray Duncan (1921–94) and Sylvia Duncan (1922–97). She has a sister, Robyn.
She started her entertainment career at age 12, working in a local production of The King and I for $150 a week. In the late 1960s, Duncan was an unknown actress in Los Angeles when she was selected for a part in the commercial for United California Bank (later to become First Interstate Bank and later merged with Wells Fargo), portraying a bank teller who finds it impossible to pronounce the Greek name of customer "Nicholas H. Janopaparopoulos", despite several tries. (She apologetically asks, "Do you mind if I just call you 'Nick'?") In 1968, she spent a brief time acting in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow.
In 1970, she was named one of the "most promising faces of tomorrow" by Time magazine. Also that year, she starred in the Broadway revival of The Boy Friend, where she received excellent reviews. Duncan made her feature film debut co-starring opposite Dean Jones in the Walt Disney family comedy The Million Dollar Duck. She was then cast as "Amy Cooper" in the Paramount film version of Star Spangled Girl, based on the Broadway play by Neil Simon. Both movies performed poorly at the box office. In autumn 1971, Duncan starred as "Sandy Stockton" in the CBS sitcom Funny Face. The program was put on the Saturday night primetime schedule between All in the Family and The New Dick Van Dyke Show. Although critics dismissed the show, they praised Duncan, especially TV Guide columnist Cleveland Amory, who described her as "a wonderful comedienne". Meanwhile, shortly after the premiere, Duncan underwent surgery on her left eye to remove a benign tumor. As a result, she lost vision in the eye (It was not replaced with a prosthetic eye, as some urban myths claim). Though Duncan's recovery from the operation was rapid, CBS suspended production on the show until the following year, after the 12th installment had been filmed; the original series pilot served as the 13th (and final) episode. At first, Nielsen ratings for Funny Face were low, ranking in the lower 50s; eventually, they climbed up to #17, and it was deemed the best liked new show of that TV season. For all her efforts, Duncan received an Emmy Award nomination for "Outstanding Continued Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role In A Comedy Series". In September 1972, the program returned as The Sandy Duncan Show, now with a revised format and new writers; it also had a new timeslot of Sunday nights at 8:30 P.M. Critical reaction to the show was similar to that for Funny Face, but without the strong Saturday night lead-in of All in the Family, the ratings sank. After 13 episodes, CBS cancelled the series. In 1976, Duncan played the title role in a TV musical adaptation of Pinocchio, which featured Danny Kaye as "Mister Geppetto" and Flip Wilson as "the Fox". She also guest-starred in a first-season episode of The Muppet Show where, contrary to common misconception, she was not the first to be karate-chopped by Miss Piggy, but she did share a raucous moment recollecting "The Banana Sketch" with Fozzie Bear. Next, for her performance as "Missy Anne Reynolds" in the miniseries Roots, she earned another Emmy nomination. It was then that she went back to Broadway for many years. In 1979, her run as the title role in Peter Pan won her many accolades. She also had replacement roles in My One and Only and Chicago.
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