Sandy Duncan
Encyclopedia
Sandra Kay "Sandy" Duncan (born February 20, 1946) is an American singer, dancer and actress of stage
and television
, recognized through a blonde, pixie cut
hairstyle and perky demeanor. She is best known for her performances in the Broadway
revival of Peter Pan
and in the sitcom The Hogan Family
.
, Texas
(the seat of Rusk County
), and grew up in nearby Tyler
. Her parents were Mancil Ray and Sylvia Duncan. Mancil was the son of a mule team operator William Joseph Duncan.
for $150 a week.
In the mid-1960s, Duncan was an unknown actress in Los Angeles
when she was selected for a part in a TV commercial for United California Bank (later to become part of Wells Fargo Bank), portraying a bank teller who finds it impossible to pronounce the name of customer "Nicholas Janopoporopolus", 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 the fall of 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
. 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
.
Duncan has been nominated for a Tony Award
three times: in 1969, as "Featured Actress (Musical)" in Canterbury Tales; in 1971, as "Best Actress (Musical)" in The Boy Friend; and in 1980, as "Best Actress (Musical)" in Peter Pan.
In 1972, an animated version of Duncan (who contributed her own voice) appeared in "Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde", an episode of the CBS Saturday morning cartoon The New Scooby-Doo Movies
.
In 1978, she starred in Disney's The Cat from Outer Space
alongside Ken Berry
, Harry Morgan
and Roddy McDowall
.
During the 1980s, Duncan was the commercial spokesperson for the introduction of Nabisco
's Wheat Thins.
In 1984, she starred in a song and dance review called 5-6-7-8...Dance! at Radio City Music Hall
.
In 1987, she joined the cast of NBC
's Valerie's Family (previously known as Valerie, later to be retitled The Hogan Family
) after Valerie Harper
left the sitcom, Duncan filling in for the mother role as "Aunt Sandy" [Hogan], the patriarch's sister. (She stayed with the show through the final season on CBS until its cancellation in 1991.) In addition, she appeared in the first three Barney and the Backyard Gang children's videos. Thinking the videos were not going to be popular , she eventually departed from the production; subsequently, when they were reworked into the hit PBS
show Barney & Friends
, she was surprised by their success.
She has also provided the voice for other animated characters. She was "Vixey" in Disney's The Fox and the Hound
(1981), the speaking and singing voice of "Firefly" in the pilot episode of My Little Pony (1984), "Peepers" in Rock-A-Doodle
(1991), "Queen Uberta" in The Swan Princess
(1994), and as the singer and narrator in episodes of Mickey Mouse Works
(1999).
In 2003, she appeared in the rotating cast of the Off-Broadway
staged reading of Wit & Wisdom
. In May 2008, she performed one of the lead roles in the musical No, No, Nanette
; a production of the City Center's annual Encores!
series in New York City
. In April 2009, she performed the lead role in the play Driving Miss Daisy
at Casa Mañana
Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas. In September 2009, she played the lead role in Tennessee Williams
' play "The Glass Menagerie" at the Mountain Playhouse in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania
. She has also been in many travelling stage productions, including The King and I
.
, and from 1968-72 (some sources report 1969-71), they were married.
Her second marriage was to Dr. Thomas Calcaterra on January 10, 1973; it lasted until 1979. Calcaterra is a head/neck oncologist who practices at UCLA Medical Center Division of Head and Neck Surgery and teaches surgery at UCLA Medical School.
Since July 21, 1980, she has been married to Don Correia. They have two sons: Jeffrey (b. 1983) and Michael (b. 1984). She later said of their births, "I gained 60 pounds with each baby—it's just the way I do pregnancy".
In Taylorville
, Illinois
(near Springfield
), a street was named "Sandy Duncan Drive" in her honor because her character on Funny Face and The Sandy Duncan Show was from Taylorville.
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, recognized through a blonde, pixie cut
Pixie cut
A pixie cut refers to a short woman's hairstyle generally short on the back and sides of the head and slightly longer on the top. Women began exploring shorter hairstyles in the 1920s and was widely popular by rebelling women known as flappers...
hairstyle and perky demeanor. She is best known for her performances in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
revival of Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1954 musical)
Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Barrie's own novelization of it, Peter and Wendy. The music is mostly by Mark "Moose" Charlap, with additional music by Jule Styne, and most of the lyrics were written by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty...
and in the sitcom The Hogan Family
The Hogan Family
The Hogan Family is an American television situation comedy that aired from March 1, 1986 to July 20, 1991...
.
Early life
She was born in HendersonHenderson, Texas
Henderson is a city in Rusk County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,273 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rusk County...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
(the seat of Rusk County
Rusk County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,372 people, 17,364 households, and 12,727 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 19,867 housing units at an average density of 22 per square mile...
), and grew up in nearby Tyler
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
. Her parents were Mancil Ray and Sylvia Duncan. Mancil was the son of a mule team operator William Joseph Duncan.
Career
She started her entertainment career at age 12, working in a local production of The King and IThe King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
for $150 a week.
In the mid-1960s, Duncan was an unknown actress in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
when she was selected for a part in a TV commercial for United California Bank (later to become part of Wells Fargo Bank), portraying a bank teller who finds it impossible to pronounce the name of customer "Nicholas Janopoporopolus", 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
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
.
In 1970, she was named one of the "most promising faces of tomorrow" by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine. Also that year, she starred in the Broadway revival of The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until it was surpassed by Salad Days...
, where she received excellent reviews. Duncan made her feature film debut co-starring opposite Dean Jones
Dean Jones (actor)
Dean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977, most notably The Love Bug.-Early years:...
in the Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
family comedy The Million Dollar Duck
The Million Dollar Duck
The Million Dollar Duck is a 1971 Disney comedy film that was directed by Vincent McEveety, and stars Dean Jones, Sandy Duncan and Joe Flynn.-Plot:...
. She was then cast as "Amy Cooper" in the Paramount film version of Star Spangled Girl
Star Spangled Girl
Star Spangled Girl is a 1971 American romantic comedy film based on the Neil Simon play The Star-Spangled Girl. It stars Tony Roberts, Todd Susman and Sandy Duncan.-Plot:...
, based on the Broadway play by Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
. Both movies performed poorly at the box office.
In the fall of 1971, Duncan starred as "Sandy Stockton" in the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
sitcom Funny Face. The program was put on the Saturday night primetime schedule between All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
and The New Dick Van Dyke Show
The New Dick Van Dyke Show
The New Dick Van Dyke Show is an American sitcom starring Dick Van Dyke that aired on CBS from 1971 to 1974. This was Van Dyke's first return to series television since The Dick Van Dyke Show.-Production:...
. Although critics dismissed the show, they praised Duncan, especially TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
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
Tumor
A tumor or tumour is commonly used as a synonym for a neoplasm that appears enlarged in size. Tumor is not synonymous with cancer...
. As a result, she lost vision in the eye. (It was not replaced with a prosthetic eye
Ocular prosthesis
An ocular prosthesis or artificial eye replaces an absent natural eye following an enucleation, evisceration, or orbital exenteration. The prosthetic fits over an orbital implant and under the eyelids. Often referred to as a glass eye, the ocular prosthesis roughly takes the shape of a convex...
, 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
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
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
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
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
The Sandy Duncan Show
Funny Face and The Sandy Duncan Show are two sitcoms aired by CBS starring Sandy Duncan as part of its 1971 and 1972 fall lineups, respectively...
, 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
Pinocchio
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...
, which featured Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
as "Mister Geppetto
Mister Geppetto
Mister Geppetto is a fictional character in the novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. Geppetto is an elderly, impoverished woodcarver and the creator of Pinocchio...
" and Flip Wilson
Flip Wilson
Clerow Wilson, Jr. , known professionally as Flip Wilson, was an American comedian and actor. In the early 1970s, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series, The Flip Wilson Show...
as "the Fox". She also guest-starred in a first season episode of The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
. Next, for her performance as "Missy Anne Reynolds" in the miniseries Roots
Roots (TV miniseries)
Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...
, 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
My One and Only
My One and Only is a musical with a book by Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer and music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin.Written to incorporate classic Gershwin tunes from Funny Face and other popular shows into one evening of entertainment, the plot, set in 1927 America, revolves around Capt...
and Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
.
Duncan has been nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
three times: in 1969, as "Featured Actress (Musical)" in Canterbury Tales; in 1971, as "Best Actress (Musical)" in The Boy Friend; and in 1980, as "Best Actress (Musical)" in Peter Pan.
In 1972, an animated version of Duncan (who contributed her own voice) appeared in "Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde", an episode of the CBS Saturday morning cartoon The New Scooby-Doo Movies
The New Scooby-Doo Movies
The New Scooby-Doo Movies is the second incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. It premiered on September 9, 1972 and ran for two seasons on CBS as the only hour-long Scooby-Doo series...
.
In 1978, she starred in Disney's The Cat from Outer Space
The Cat from Outer Space
The Cat from Outer Space is a 1978 Disney film, starring Ronnie Schell, Ken Berry, Sandy Duncan, Harry Morgan, Roddy McDowall and McLean Stevenson.-Plot:...
alongside Ken Berry
Ken Berry
Kenneth Ronald "Ken" Berry is an American dancer, comedic actor and singer. He began on stage as a dancer and later starred in television sitcoms.-Life and career:...
, Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan is an American actor. Morgan is well-known for his roles as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H , Pete Porter on both Pete and Gladys and December Bride , Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet , and Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey...
and Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
.
During the 1980s, Duncan was the commercial spokesperson for the introduction of Nabisco
Nabisco
Nabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...
's Wheat Thins.
In 1984, she starred in a song and dance review called 5-6-7-8...Dance! at Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
.
In 1987, she joined the cast of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Valerie's Family (previously known as Valerie, later to be retitled The Hogan Family
The Hogan Family
The Hogan Family is an American television situation comedy that aired from March 1, 1986 to July 20, 1991...
) after Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper is an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda and Valerie.-Early life and career:Harper was born at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Rockland County,...
left the sitcom, Duncan filling in for the mother role as "Aunt Sandy" [Hogan], the patriarch's sister. (She stayed with the show through the final season on CBS until its cancellation in 1991.) In addition, she appeared in the first three Barney and the Backyard Gang children's videos. Thinking the videos were not going to be popular , she eventually departed from the production; subsequently, when they were reworked into the hit PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
show Barney & Friends
Barney & Friends
Barney and Friends, also referred to by HiT Entertainment as Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, is an independent children's television show produced in the United States, aimed at children from ages 1-8...
, she was surprised by their success.
She has also provided the voice for other animated characters. She was "Vixey" in Disney's The Fox and the Hound
The Fox and the Hound (film)
The Fox and the Hound is a 1981 animated feature loosely based on the Daniel P. Mannix novel of the same name, produced by Walt Disney Productions and released in the United States on July 10, 1981...
(1981), the speaking and singing voice of "Firefly" in the pilot episode of My Little Pony (1984), "Peepers" in Rock-A-Doodle
Rock-A-Doodle
Rock-a-Doodle is a 1992 American animated re-telling of Edmond Rostand's comedy, Chantecler. This film was directed by Don Bluth, produced by Goldcrest Films for The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and originally released in the United States on April 3, 1992.-Plot:Chanticleer is a proud rooster whose...
(1991), "Queen Uberta" in The Swan Princess
The Swan Princess
The Swan Princess is a 1994 American animated film based on the ballet "Swan Lake". Starring the voice talents of Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, and Sandy Duncan, the film is directed by a former Disney animation director, Richard Rich, with a music score by Lex de Azevedo...
(1994), and as the singer and narrator in episodes of Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
(1999).
In 2003, she appeared in the rotating cast of the Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
staged reading of Wit & Wisdom
Wit & Wisdom
Wit & Wisdom is a play conceived and put together by Vivian Gornick and Nora Eisenberg and done by the Colleagues Theatre Company which premiered at the Off-Broadway Arclight Theatre in New York City, New York. It ran from March 5 to March 30, 2003.-Plot:...
. In May 2008, she performed one of the lead roles in the musical No, No, Nanette
No, No, Nanette
No, No, Nanette is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play My Lady Friends...
; a production of the City Center's annual Encores!
Encores!
Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
series in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In April 2009, she performed the lead role in the play Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy (play)
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1987 play by Alfred Uhry about the relationship of an elderly Southern Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan, and her African-American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, from 1948 to 1973...
at Casa Mañana
Casa Mañana
Casa Mañana Theatre, in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, is located in the Fort Worth Cultural District and is known as the "House of Tomorrow." Originally an outdoor amphitheater, Casa opened in 1936 as the part of the official Texas Centennial Celebration....
Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas. In September 2009, she played the lead role in Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
' play "The Glass Menagerie" at the Mountain Playhouse in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. She has also been in many travelling stage productions, including The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
.
Personal life
She met singer-actor Bruce Scott during the Off-Broadway production of Your Own ThingYour Own Thing
Your Own Thing is a rock-styled musical comedy loosely based on Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. It premiered off-Broadway in early 1968. The music and lyrics are by Hal Hester and Danny Apolinar with the book adaptation by Donald Driver, who also directed the original production...
, and from 1968-72 (some sources report 1969-71), they were married.
Her second marriage was to Dr. Thomas Calcaterra on January 10, 1973; it lasted until 1979. Calcaterra is a head/neck oncologist who practices at UCLA Medical Center Division of Head and Neck Surgery and teaches surgery at UCLA Medical School.
Since July 21, 1980, she has been married to Don Correia. They have two sons: Jeffrey (b. 1983) and Michael (b. 1984). She later said of their births, "I gained 60 pounds with each baby—it's just the way I do pregnancy".
In Taylorville
Taylorville, Illinois
Taylorville is a city in Christian County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,246 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat and largest city in Christian County.-Geography:Taylorville is located at ....
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
(near Springfield
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
), a street was named "Sandy Duncan Drive" in her honor because her character on Funny Face and The Sandy Duncan Show was from Taylorville.