Patricia Duff

DUFF JAM July 2005
Duff is back in the spotlight – although this time around she’s the one asking the questions. Last year she launched her own political chat show, Duff Talk, on plum TV, a new niche cable network that caters to the resort communities of Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, the Hamptons, Aspen and Vail. She is one of the producers of the show and books most of the guests herself. “The idea was to do an intelligent but not overly serious show where we could talk about the issues,” says Duff.

“She’s extremely smart and acknowledgeable about the issues,” says Plum TV’s Woods”.

NewYorkSocialDiary.com
David Patrick Columbia

"I was first aware of her in Los Angeles when she was married to Mike Medavoy and an activist in Democratic Party politics as well as other environmental and political issues. Patricia Duff was the most high profile entertainment industry-related female political figure in Los Angeles. It was she who was instrumental in the mid-1980s in introducing Governor Bill Clinton to L. A. Democratic Party supporters and contributors. Clinton was relatively unknown in national party politics and was only one of many potential candidates and party leaders whom Duff presented to Southern California Democrats .... She quickly established herself as an independent and forceful individual in the forums she participated in."more -->

Vogue

Esquire

Cover Story, "Women We Love," "Political Hotshot - Patricia Medavoy," "As a mogul's wife, she could just as easily take lunch at Le Dome and perfect her workout. Instead, she hot-wires L.A. to Washington, driving the entertainment community to support the homeless, the hungry, and the environment. If Hollywood has a conscience, she's it."

"Power Bloc"
Robert Sheer,

"... Politics in Hollywood these days is two great-looking women and one rumpled guy huddled in the corner of Hamburger Hamlet on Century Park East plotting who deserves to become the next president of the United States..."

"... Patricia Duff Medavoy... Betsy Kenny...and Danny Goldberg...They are the driving force behind the Show Coalition, one of the star-studded liberal groups that are putting new-age politics on the national stag. Only a year old, the Show Coalition now includes Richard Dreyfuss. Robert Foxworth of Falcon Crest, Donna Mills of Knots Landing, Ed Begley, Jr. of St. Elsewhere, and directors such as Sydney Pollack and Phil Alden Robinson ... "

"' There are a lot of people whose first political involvement was the '84 Hart campaign,' says Betsy Kenny, Princeton '83, an always collected brunette...'For the people in California,' she adds, 'the Hart experience was very happy. He won the state. So this was a group that was very eager to be with Hart in '88. Once they had gotten a taste of activism, it was something they continued to do, and I think that Show Coalition came out of that.' ..."

" But these leaders of Show Coalition are determined to build something more...They are serious about using their Hollywood power base, which translates into media skills as well as money and celebrity contacts. ...At the moment, HWPC and Show Coalition are at the center of this new movement that aims to secure a leading role in the national liberal scene ˆ defining and pushing such issues as peace, the environment, and women's rights rather than just rolling over for visiting west coast heavies..."

" Betsy ... 'I'm here because there's an openness to ideas and people and an intellectual ferment that's accessible to newcomers.'" (more)

Harper's Bazaar
West Coast Wonder Woman

"Medavoy recently founded Show Coalition, a national political education network of entertainment industry leaders featuring policy discussions with candidates, seminars and forums on current issues. 'We're organizing the new generation of Hollywood leadership,' she says."

Los Angeles Times Magazine Cover Story

89 for 89 - During the Coming Year These are the Rising Young Stars to Watch in Southern California

"The editors and writers of The Times have chosen some of the brightest of Southern California's rising stars to showcase ÖThe people profiled in the following pages already have achieved a measure of greatness in the respective fields.. but were picked because of their potential to achieve even greater fame and recognitionÖPatricia Duff Medavoy ...the Georgetown University graduate first came west with the Hart campaign in 1984, rallying support from Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams and Rob Lowe, among others. Her work on U.S. Senate and congressional races continued to mesh Hollywood and politics. But having been associate producer of last summer's Democratic convention..."

Self Magazine

The Real Life of a Hollywood Wife

"Even in the late Eighties, Hollywood is a man's town... Where do the women come in? Mostly, with difficulty. Some of the most intriguing, in fact, are Hollywood wives. And wife hardly means "little woman." Witness Pat Medavoy...wife of Mike Medavoy, Orion Pictures's executive vice president... She wrote Jimmy Carter position papers... she associate-produced the Democratic National Convention...From Georgetown University she went to a job at a Congressional committee reinvestigating John F. Kennedy's death. Then to a great-American women series. On to working for pollster Pat Caddell..."

 Los Angeles Herald Examiner

The First Ladies of Hollywood

" She is at first glance, the picture of a Hollywood Wife ...groomed carefully to a casual elegance ... Had we found the last of a dying breed? Was this a Hollywood wife? 'I'm leaving for Atlanta...There's a lot to do.' She is the associate producer of next week's Democratic National Convention, working with the Smith-Hemion production group. She is beyond busy ...This First Lady of Hollywood will be one of the most powerful women in Tinseltown if Dukakis is elected. She is major in the Hollywood Women's Political Caucus and SHOW (Coalition), political groups which have showcased the presidential hopefuls here in Southern California. She is not in Atlanta to ensure that everyone has a good time...'I won't have time to go to any of the parties.' ...'Politics has been passion of mine all my life. I got it from my mother. She was a serious Kennedy Democrat.'... Medavoy, a native Californian, went to high school in Brussels at the International School. Her father, an executive with an American company, moved the family to Europe and Medavoy grew up in Bonn, Brussels and Switzerland ... She has a remarkable successful home life. And she does it all with almost no assistance ‚ no private secretary ... What doe she think of the fulltime social animals in Hollywood? "Well, they may exist, those Hollywood wives.' She laughs. 'I never met one. I think now that sort of woman, an appendage of her husband, is an anachronism.' 'I honestly believe in the democratic process ... You know, we really can make things happen as individuals'..."

Richard Schwartz is a Daily News columnist

Look out, divorce court

"...Today, Duff is a compelling voice for matrimonial court reform. She's helping organize scores of city parents who were abused by the system and now hope to reform it. Advice to the legal geniuses: Listen to them..." (To read the rest of this and other articles on Duff's efforts in matrimonial reform, click here)