“Dallas” and “Step by Step” kept Patrick Duffy on TV in the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, he’s added 80 more acting credits and directed several films. Good. The Montana-born multi-talent may be the only individual who improved in 2020.
Duffy announced in November that he was dating “Happy Days” actress Linda Purl. Duffy, who was acting in Lifetime’s “Once Upon a Main Street,” told People that they had been casual friends for years before taking the next step while everyone was quarantined. We’ll discuss their budding romance below, but the actor said, “We’re very pleased. I never expected this.” Before finding love, Duffy lost several of his closest friends.
Before college, Patrick Duffy’s acting career hit a snag. “I was just about to graduate from the University of Washington and ruptured my vocal cords from lack of judgment, vocal abuse, no rest, drinking too much,” Duffy told Deseret News in 1991, recalling how he lost his voice two decades before. “That ended my career.”
The future star adjusted by teaching mime and movement classes, according to his IMDb page. Duffy then interpreted ballet and opera performances by travelling groups in Washington. He only repaired his vocal cords by chanting daily as a Buddhist. He recovered in five months, Deseret News reported.
The woman who introduced Duffy to Buddhism would become crucial to him.
One of Hollywood’s longest-lasting couples, Patrick Duffy and Carlyn Rosser had an unusual meet-cute. Duffy told Closer Weekly that he had started touring with a group of entertainers after graduation.
“I was an immature college graduate touring as narrator with this dance production, and she was a lovely dancer 10 years older,” he said of his first meeting Rosser. “We met on the tour bus—for life.” Her talents captivated the young actor. “My wife had a great pitch, concert piano, dancer, and creative life,” he said. “That drew me.”
The dancer was married. After Rosser converted Duffy to Buddhism, they fled together. “I wrote, “Dear Mom and Dad: I’m relocating to New York with a married woman 10 years older than me and oh, by the way, I’m a Buddhist.” As a parent, what would I do if my son sent a similar letter? “In Deseret News, Duffy joked. “I’d tumble.”
Rosser died over 40 years after their 1974 marriage.
“Dallas,” about the Ewing family’s struggle to control a large oil business, made Patrick Duffy famous in the late 1970s. However, his career outside of his famous role failed.
“I thought if there was ever a time at the height of the popularity of that show, that I might be able to launch into something that was more of a single, starring venue, that that would be the time to do it,” Duffy told HuffPost in 2014, recalling how Bobby Ewing was killed off so he could pursue other projects. “Typical Patrick Duffy business decision catastrophe,” he joked.
Duffy returned to his first soap when he couldn’t locate his ideal star vehicle, forcing the writers to improvise. They thought the previous season, including his dying scene, was a dream. Duffy, who reprised the role in 2012, told TV Insider in April 2021 that he might return. “I put Bobby Ewing behind me twice and it didn’t work,” he said. “I never say “never again.” I’d do it if it was the amazing next step in those characters’ story.”
Patrick Duffy’s 1986 “Dallas” portrayal as Bobby Ewing was his career high. Then his parents were slain. Two 19-year-old gunmen entered Duffy’s parents’ Montana pub and shot them to death.
In Closer Weekly, the actor called his parents “very average, decent people” and “social.” Thus, their gruesome murder by teens Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz was a terrible shock. “My father ejected these two young men from the tavern later that evening. They drank elsewhere and returned to the bar to kick his a** “The actor recounted their sad encounter. “They shot him in the bar. They shot my parents because the bar was empty.”
Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz, who were swiftly found, murdered Patrick Duffy’s parents, shocking everyone who knew them. In 1987, the teens were convicted and sentenced to 75 years for murder and 30 years for robbery and assault, according to the Associated Press (per UPI, Wentz later received an additional 10 years, explaining that “the Miller jury sent a message that Sean Wentz was the triggerman.”)
Joanne, Duffy’s sister and a police officer, was sad they weren’t executed. The legendary actor found tranquility. “My sister instantly embarked on a crusade, wanting punishment,” Patrick Duffy told The Times in 2012. “They’re already punished. They caused their future suffering.” After Wentz admitted to being the single gunman, Miller’s parole in 2007 didn’t shake the “Step by Step” alum.
“OK. My sister’s not, “Duffy said they weren’t master criminals. “Dumb, stupid young men.”
Buddhism, which his wife, Carlyn Rosser, introduced him to, helped Patrick Duffy cope with his parents’ killings, he told The Times.
“I only converted because I wanted to sleep with her,” he said of their tour bus meeting. “And now I do it because it’s such a part of my life,” Duffy concluded. Nichiren Buddhism helped his vocal cords and attitude. “I’m invulnerable to suffering,” the celebrity said, while he still grieved his parents’ deaths. “Pain isn’t suffering. Self-inflicted.”
The actor said, “When my parents were murdered, I went through all the emotions of the awful occurrence of shock and rage and everything, but I never felt distant from them.” His faith helped him understand life and death. “No instant loss. I didn’t know why, but 15 years of Buddhism did.” In a Guardian interview, Duffy said he was “fully accountable for his pain.” “If I’m suffering because of it, it’s my karma that I’ve manifested in this incarnation in these circumstances.”
Patrick Duffy paid tribute to Barbara Bel Geddes, his on-screen mother, after her 2005 lung cancer death.
“When Barbara joined the cast of ‘Dallas,’ as Miss Ellie, I believed her to be like Helen Hayes, Katherine Cornell, and Ethel Barrymore — a real ‘name’ in American theater,” he told Entertainment Weekly, recalling Bel Geddes’ first intimidation. “You wouldn’t have known. Despite her pedigree, she was exceptional.” “Dallas” cast and crew called Duffy “BBG” on set, she said. “She was mama,” he added.
Duffy said the 2012 revival was different without Bel Geddes. “Barbara is a major aspect of our history,” he told TV Week. “Coming back with Linda Gray as Sue Ellen and Larry Hagman in his J.R. hat and seeing Ellie Southworth Ewing Farlow on the gravestone made me realize, ‘Oh, that’s right—gone.’” she’s
Patrick Duffy found serenity in Carlyn Rosser, but she also caused him more anguish. Rosser died at 77 from cancer in 2017. “She died unexpectedly. No sign, “Duffy told Closer Weekly. “You become older and realize the road ahead is considerably shorter than the road behind.”
He tweeted that his wife would be with him “eternally” after her death. “On this day 6 months ago my heart stopped,” Duffy wrote in June. “I live as she wishes.” The former “Step by Step” star thanked fans for their “love and care” and said he will be OK.
“Life is error-free. If given enough time, I can fix every fence and make my work valuable “Duffy later told Closer Weekly. “I’m fine.”
In 2019, Patrick Duffy crushed fans’ hearts by saying he still considered Carlyn Rosser his wife. “Hearing her. I see her, “actor told Closer Weekly. “I attempt to meet her expectations.” However, Duffy said he occasionally missed Rosser. “I miss her touch,” he said. “I still feel married.”
The actor also mentioned how crucial his kids Padraic and Conor were during his grieving. According to Closer Weekly, Duffy’s older son, Padraic, has written and directed theater, while his younger son, Conor (shown above), has acted in “Arrested Development” and “Good Girls.”
“My lads were stalwarts,” Duffy said. “I also recognized that, as much as they were trying to bolster old Dad, I’m probably more attuned to this set of circumstances than they are.”
In late 2020, People claimed that Patrick Duffy was dating “Happy Days” star Linda Purl. “I never believed for a minute this would happen again,” Duffy said of their “very joyful connection.”
In June 2021, “Doomsday Mom” co-stars told Closer Weekly that they grew closer during the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown by talking on Zoom every night. “We examined our past, loves, and histories. We listened to music and covered the usual ground throughout months of dating “Duffy saw. “We got to know each other without outside influences.” Linda called their early connection “a very Victorian process” and life “filled of surprises.”
“Patrick and I didn’t want this. Our paths intersected unexpectedly. Never quit, “insisted. Duffy told the outlet he was excited for every moment together and added, “Every time this great woman loves me, I’m stunned. Amazing!”
Patrick Duffy doesn’t regret his life’s tragedies. “I’ve worked hard to make the best of life, and it’s been wonderful to me,” he told Closer Weekly.
