Sandy Duncan

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American stage, TV and movie actress, singer and dancer whose girl-next-door, perky appeal in TV commercials first brought her to the attention of the mass public. Duncan made a stage debut at age six and by 18, was a veteran of 40 stage musicals. She made her New York debut in "The Music Man," 1965 and also appeared in "The Boy Friend," 1970, "The Star Spangled Girl," 1971, "Peter Pan," 1979 and "My One and Only," 1984. She appeared in two short-lived TV series, and starred in "The Hogan Family," from 1987-1991, after the original star, Valerie Harper, held out for more money. Other credits include "The Swan Princess," 1994, and "My Boy Friend's Back," 1993. As of early 1999, she was preparing to do "Chicago" on Broadway. Sandy's folks made a comfortable living as owners of a gas station and were able to indulge their daughter with years of ballet lessons. At 18, she moved to the big city of New York and began supporting herself in musicals. She quickly became as comfortable and cheerful with her stage family as her birth family, and always remained unpretentious. Duncan was married to singer-actor Bruce Scott from 1968-1971. Her second husband was Dr. Thomas Calcaterra, 1973-1979. In 1980 she was married for a third time, to dancer Don Correia. They had two sons, Jeff, born in 1982, and Mike, born in 1984. In 1971, Duncan developed a brain tumor. Going through a divorce and having hideous headaches, she could not find out what was wrong. "Poor little thing, she's having a nervous breakdown," people said. The doctors took X-rays and could find nothing. The CAT scan was not yet in use, which would have spotted immediately the tumor behind her eye, pressing on the optic nerve. She was down to 90 lbs. and could not see out of one eye by the time she was hospitalized. In a ten-hour brain operation, surgeons removed the tumor. It was benign, thankfully but she lost the vision of one eye. Directors are now careful to see that they are not photographing her when her blind eye tends to stray. A month later, still bald, she was playing a guest shot on "The Sonny and Cher Show." Duncan had a difficult period in 1991 after the Hogan show was cancelled. She had been a wine drinker increasingly for the prior three years and with the show being dropped, she too dropped into clinical depression. Because she always looked good and was cheerful and upbeat, no one realized how low she was. Thankfully, she started therapy and medications to get back on her feet. In 2001, Duncan works with a troupe, dancing and singing works from Broadway musicals, taking their show on the road to play in local venues. Link to Wikipedia biography