Within the Nineteen Seventies Sandy Duncan was in all places, a capital "E" entertainer starring in household comedies like "$1,000,000 Duck," incomes an Emmy nomination for her efficiency in "Roots," teaming up with these meddling youngsters of "Scooby-Doo," and high-kicking with a gaggle of Muppets.
"I imply this as excessive reward: you had been form of made for The Muppets," mentioned correspondent Mo Rocca.
"I used to be!" Duncan replied. "I associated extra to them than a variety of actors I've ever labored with."
And through industrial breaks, she hawked Wheat Thins crackers, although it seems it is a rival snack meals she now prefers: "I like Triscuits," she mentioned.
"Is that this an unique?" Rocca requested.
"Sure! That is an unique!"
However for a lot of, Sandy Duncan is suspended in time because the Boy Who Would Not Develop Up, dazzling audiences within the 1979 revival of "Peter Pan," in 554 performances. "I felt pleasure each time I did this," she mentioned. "I do not assume I had a nasty present."
She's not the bragging sort, however "You possibly can nonetheless crow?" requested Rocca.
"I can nonetheless crow! Dance, not a lot."
In truth, she's nonetheless kicking: "Fairly shut! You are taller. Your legs are longer! Now I am aggravated. OK. Minimize!"
The dancing started when Duncan was a child in New London, Texas. "It is a teensy oil city. And that is the place I used to be born, and went 'til first grade. It actually is the VFW corridor, a grocery retailer, a drug retailer, the financial institution, after which a church, and a church, and a church, and a church, and a church. Then, you are outta city."
That is the place Duncan danced in her first recital, when she was simply 5 years outdated. "I did not have the lead half; Nona Kay did. We had been sorta that back-up ladies that may go, 'That is proper, Nona Kay, that is proper!'"
In third grade, she moved to the "huge metropolis" of Tyler, Texas, the Rose Capital of America, and naturally a spot with a number of parades. "We had some ugly queens, I will let you know. 'Trigger it is whose daddy had probably the most cash."
Duncan, nonetheless, had probably the most expertise, and when she was 19 she headed to New York. "I moved into this place known as the Rehearsal Membership, which was only for younger girls. It was $32 every week. I began getting work straight away, which is fortunate, as a result of it is not at all times the case. And in addition, I could not audition. By no means may, I nonetheless cannot. I stink."
She auditioned properly sufficient, although, to e book a sequence of commercials for United California Financial institution that bought her observed for her quirky humorousness.
Rocca requested, "The impression of you as being perpetually cheerful, did that ever irritate you?"
"Sure! after all it did, as a result of it's miles from the reality. Don will let you know that!" she laughed.
Don is dancer and choreographer Don Correia, Duncan's husband of 42 years. They've two sons and dwell in Connecticut.
Rocca requested, "Is there singing and dancing that goes on on this home?"
"I seize her sometimes and she or he goes, 'Get away from me!'" Correia laughed.
Duncan mentioned, "We tried to do a soar about two or three weeks in the past, and I mentioned, 'Let's simply see if we are able to soar.' Nicely, it wasn't really easy."
"It was okay getting up, however then if you land, your complete physique simply shakes," he added.
Earlier than they had been married, they had been dance companions.
What did it really feel like to bounce with one another? "You simply knew you had been by no means going to fall," Duncan mentioned. "You had been by no means going to be dropped."
Within the 1983 present "Parade of Stars," by which they carried out as Irene and Vernon Fort, Duncan mentioned, "We needed to do these actually extremely quick turns. He is simply positive."
"She's a really robust girl," Correia mentioned. "She has been by way of lots. It is made her stronger and stronger. And you recognize, she retains saying, 'Oh, I can not do that. I can not try this.' Nicely, she will."
On this internet unique, Sandy Duncan describes successful a task from Agnes de Mille:
Duncan's resilience was confirmed way back. Again when she was 24, she was solid in her personal sitcom on CBS. "Humorous Face" was a success. However three months earlier than wrapping the primary season, Duncan simply knew one thing was unsuitable: "I might get these hideous complications that I may barely operate. After which my eye began getting like I had Vaseline over one in all my eyes. And so they stored saying it was nerves, as a result of it is my first sequence. And I stored going, 'No, I am hyper. However I am not nervous.'"
One physician really useful sleep: "I believed they had been gonna give me a shot, and I am by no means gonna get up."
And so, she visited extra medical doctors: "And naturally, there is not any CAT-scan and no MRI. They did not exist. And so they discovered it within the surgical procedure, that there was this huge tumor that was connected to the orbit of my eye. They severed the optic nerve. And that is why I've no imaginative and prescient."
No imaginative and prescient in any respect in her left eye.
Rocca requested, "Forgive me if that is too graphic, however how did they even get in there?"
"They sawed the highest of my head off," Duncan mentioned. "I've holes and scars in every single place. After which they stapled it again on. I needed to put on a wig for nearly a 12 months. And everybody thinks that I misplaced my eye. And I am going: No, I am sorry, I did not. You recognize, no, it is not a prosthetic."
As she made clear in her program bio for a 2008 manufacturing of "No, No, Nanette," Duncan does not have a glass eye. However she did lose her depth notion. "It interferes with a variety of issues," she mentioned. "Simply choosing up this glass, even but, and that was what, God is aware of what number of years in the past."
"Fifty years in the past."
"Fifty years in the past. Thanks, Mo! And I've to actually focus to get the glass, or to pour one thing into one thing, you recognize. My largest drawback is my self-consciousness about one other individual's consolation."
It is easy to neglect that Duncan's best triumph occurred after her mind tumor. In his evaluation of "Peter Pan," New York Instances theater critic Walter Kerr described how the wires appeared to vanish when Duncan took flight: "She simply lets go of gravity, gracefully and gleefully, and lets the mechanical tools catch up as greatest it may."
Rocca mentioned, "That pleasure and fervour it looks like has pushed you a large number."
"I am unsure what you had been that means about wires," Duncan mentioned. "What – ?"
"Oh, he mentioned, I used to be rereading the New York Instances evaluation – "
"However I imply, what wires?" she laughed.
Story produced by Jay Kernis. Editor: Steven Tyler.