![]() His penthouse in Hollywood went up in flames and he was burnt beyond recognition. When he arrived home, he was too drunk to make it to is bedroom and he just landed on his living room sofa where he fell asleep while smoking. In December of 1976, Cassidy went out alone to some gay bars in West Hollywood that he frequented. During this period, Cassidy’s sons, David and Shaun, were at their zenith as pop stars and performers on The Partridge Family (1970-74) and The Hardy Boys Mysteries (1977-79), while Cassidy’s career crashed. ![]() Jones filed for divorce that same year, devastating Cassidy. A similar incident, in which Jones claimed that Cassidy had proclaimed himself Jesus Christ, led to a stay in a psychiatric hospital and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. In a 1974 incident, neighbors discovered him watering his front lawn while naked. He also had a successful nightclub act.īut all that time Cassidy was an alcoholic who displayed increasingly odd behavior in public. During this period, he also played leading roles on series television, including several Columbo (1968-1978) episodes, matching wits with Peter Falk‘s rumpled, shrewd detective. And Me (1976), in which he played John Barrymore, another highly theatrical stage performer. He also appeared in films, including The Eiger Sanction (1975), as the main villain opposite Clint Eastwood, and W.C. Scott‘s adaptation of The Andersonville Trial (1971). ![]() It’s Superman (1966) and as a roguish Irish actor (what a stretch) opposite Jones in Maggie Flynn (1969), which won him his second Tony.Ī second Emmy nomination came for a dramatic role in George C. Cassidy asked Jones to marry him between acts of a 1956 production of The Beggar’s Opera.Ĭassidy’s demeanor made him perfect for playing urbane, larger-than-life characters with inflated egos, winning a Tony Award for just such a character in one of my favorite musicals She Loves Me (1963), with other Tony noms for similar roles in Fade Out/Fade In (1964) with Carol Burnett as a jealous columnist with the hots for Lois Lane in It’s A Bird. With his matinee idol looks and a rich singing voice, he was a leading man of choice for high-profile musicals, including a 1955 State Department European tour of Oklahoma! opposite Jones. He found work in supporting roles doing summer stock and tours before making his debut as a leading man in the Tony-winning musical Wish You Were Here (1953), appearing in a swimsuit in a real pool on stage. Like many children of the Great Depression, Cassidy started working in a variety of menial labor jobs as a kid to help support his large family, but he loved going to the theatre.Ĭassidy had made his Broadway debut in the chorus of the aptly named Cole Porter musical Something For The Boys (1943). His performance brought him even better roles on television, but his personal problems, including alcoholism and mental illness, took a toll on his career by the mid-1970s.īorn in Queens, Cassidy was one of five children born to immigrants from Ireland. This show was delicious and dry and way ahead of its time. While appearing in a touring production of Oklahoma!, Cassidy met Jones, who became his second wife and mother to sons, actors Shaun, Ryan and Patrick Cassidy.Ĭassidy received that Emmy nomination for his work on the critically acclaimed He & She (1967-68) playing a supremely self-confident actor of a fictional television series who made life miserable for Richard Benjamin, who had created the cartoon on which the program was based, and his wife, played by Benjamin’s real-life spouse, Paula Prentiss. His rich voice and good looks made him a popular leading man on Broadway in the late 1940s and early 1950s, where he met his first wife, dancer Evelyn Ward. Cassidy was the father, from a previous marriage, of David Cassidy, the actor, singer/songwriter known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother Jones), in the 1970s musical-sitcom The Partridge Family, becoming one of popular culture’s teen idols and superstar pop singers of the 1970s.Ī star of stage and television for over two decades, Jack Cassidy embodied the vainglorious, self-absorbed side of his profession in a series of Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated roles that made him a much-loved performer. Jones and Cassidy divorced in 1974 after 18 years of marriage.
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