“Dallas” and “Step by Step” kept Patrick Duffy on television in the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, he’s added 80 more acting credits and directed several films.
In November, Duffy revealed his relationship with “Happy Days” actress Linda Purl. Duffy, who was filming Lifetime’s “Once Upon a Main Street,” said they had been casual friends for years before taking the next step while everyone was quarantined.
We’ll discuss their budding romance further, but the actor said, “We’re very pleased. This was not what I expected.” Before finding love, Duffy had lost several of his closest friends.
Patrick Duffy’s acting career came to a halt before he entered college. “I was about to graduate from the University of Washington when I ruptured my vocal cords due to a lack of judgment, vocal abuse, lack of rest, and too much drinking,” Duffy told Deseret News in 1991, recalling how he lost his voice two decades earlier. “That effectively ended my career.”
According to his IMDb page, the future star adapted by teaching mime and movement classes. Following that, Duffy interpreted ballet and opera performances in Washington by visiting groups. He only repaired his vocal cords as a Buddhist by chanting every day. He recovered in five months, according to Deseret News.
Duffy would eventually rely on the woman who had introduced him to Buddhism.
One of Hollywood’s longest-lasting couples, Patrick Duffy and Carlyn Rosser, had an unusual first date. According to Closer Weekly, Duffy began touring with a group of entertainers after graduating.
“I was an immature college graduate touring as a narrator with this dance production, and she was a lovely ten-year-old dancer,” he recalled his first meeting with Rosser. “We met on the tour bus and became lifelong friends.” Her talents captivated the young actor. “My wife had a great pitch, played concert piano, was a dancer, and lived a creative life,” he said. “That drew me in.”
The dancer had recently married. After Rosser converted Duffy to Buddhism, they fled together. “Dear Mom and Dad: I’m moving to New York with a married woman ten years my senior, and I’m a Buddhist,” I wrote. What would I do as a parent if my son wrote something similar?” Duffy cracked a joke in the Deseret News. “I’d trip.”
Patrick Duffy rose to prominence as the star of “Dallas,” a film about the Ewing family’s struggle to control a large oil company in the late 1970s. On the other hand, his career outside his famous role failed.
“If there were ever a time at the peak of that show’s popularity when I might be able to launch into something more of a single, starring venue, 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. “Yet another Patrick Duffy business decision disaster,” he observed.
When he couldn’t find his ideal star drive, Duffy returned to his first soap, forcing the writers to improvise. They mistook the previous season for a nightmare, including his death scene. Duffy returned to the role in 2012 and told TV Insider that he might do so again in April 2021. “I tried twice to put Bobby Ewing behind me, and it didn’t work,” he explained. “I’ll never say “never again.” I’d do it if it were a great next step in those characters’ stories.”
Patrick Duffy’s performance as Bobby Ewing in “Dallas” in 1986 was a career-high for him. His parents were then murdered. Two 19-year-old gunmen killed Duffy’s parents in their Montana pub.
The actor described his parents as “very average, decent people” and “social” in Closer Weekly. As a result, Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz’s heinous murder of them came as a huge shock to everyone.
“Later that evening, my father took these two young men out of the tavern. They went drinking elsewhere before returning to the bar to kick his a**.” The actor described their heartbreaking encounter. “In the bar, he was shot. They shot my parents because the bar was empty.”
After murdering Patrick Duffy’s parents, Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz were quickly apprehended, shocking everyone who knew them. The teens were convicted and sentenced to 75 years in prison for murder and 30 years for robbery and assault in 1987, according to the Associated Press (Wentz later received an additional ten years, explaining that “the Miller jury sent a message that Sean Wentz was the triggerman.”)
Joanne, Duffy’s sister, and a police officer expressed disappointment at not being executed. The legendary actor has finally found peace. “My sister immediately embarked on a crusade in search of punishment,” Patrick Duffy told The New York Times in 2012. “They have already received punishment. They caused them pain in the future.” Miller’s release on parole in 2007 did not shake the “Step by Step” alum, even after Wentz admitted to being the sole gunman.
Buddhism, which his wife, Carlyn Rosser, introduced him to, helped Patrick Duffy cope with his parents’ murders, he claims.
“I only converted so I could sleep with her,” he explained of their chance meeting on the tour bus. “And now I do it because it’s such a big part of my life,” Duffy explained. Nichiren Buddhism helped his vocal cords as well as his attitude. “I’m immune to suffering,” the celebrity said while still grieving his parents’ deaths. “Pain does not feel pain. Self-inflicted.”
“When my parents were murdered, I felt all the emotions of terrible shock and rage and everything,” the actor explained, “but I never felt distant from them.” His faith helped him understand life and death. “There is no direct loss. I didn’t understand why, but 15 years of Buddhism had.” Duffy stated in an interview with the Guardian that he was “fully accountable for his pain.” “If I’m suffering due to it, my karma manifests in this incarnation under these circumstances.”
After his on-screen mother, Barbara Bel Geddes, died of lung cancer in 2005, Patrick Duffy paid tribute to her.
“When Barbara joined the cast of ‘Dallas’ as Miss Ellie, I thought of her as a real ‘name’ in American theater, like Helen Hayes, Katherine Cornell, and Ethel Barrymore,” he told Entertainment Weekly, recalling his initial fear of Bel Geddes. “You would never guess. Despite her pedigree, she was exceptional.” She revealed that the “Dallas” cast and crew called Duffy “BBG” on set. “She was mama,” he said.
According to Duffy, the 2012 revival was not the same without Bel Geddes. “Barbara is an important part of our history,” he said to TV Week. “Seeing Ellie Southworth Ewing Farlow on the gravestone with Linda Gray as Sue Ellen and Larry Hagman in his J.R. hat made me realize, ‘Oh, that’s right—gone,’” she says.
Carlyn Rosser brought Patrick Duffy peace, but she also caused him pain. Rosser passed away from cancer in 2017 at the age of 77. “She died unexpectedly. As you get older, you realize the road ahead is shorter than the one behind.”
He said his wife would be with him “eternally” after she died. “My heart stopped six months ago today,” Duffy wrote in June. “I live according to her wishes.” The former “Step by Step” star thanked fans for their “love and care” and assured them that he was fine.
“There are no mistakes in life. “I can fix every fence and make my work valuable if given enough time,” Duffy later told Closer Weekly.
Patrick Duffy broke fans’ hearts in 2019 when he said he still thought of his wife, Carlyn Rosser. “I’m hearing her. “I see her,” the actor revealed to Closer Weekly. “I try to live up to her expectations.” Duffy, on the other hand, admitted to missing Rosser on occasion. “I miss her touch,” he confessed. “I’m still married.”
The actor also mentioned how important his children Padraic and Conor were to him during his grief. According to Closer Weekly, Padraic Duffy, Duffy’s older son, has written and directed theater, while Conor, his younger son, has acted in “Arrested Development” and “Good Girls.”
“My lads were rock solid,” Duffy said. “I also realized that, as much as they were attempting to cheer up old Dad, I’m probably more tuned in to this set of circumstances than they are.”
People reported in late 2020 that Patrick Duffy was dating “Happy Days” actress Linda Purl. “I never thought it would happen again,” Duffy said of their “very joyful connection.”
Closer Weekly reported in June 2021 that “Doomsday Mom” co-stars grew closer during the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown by talking on Zoom every night. “We dug deep into our pasts, loves, and histories. “Throughout months of dating, we listened to music and covered the usual ground,” Duffy observed. “Without outside influences, we got to know each other.” Linda described their early connection as “very Victorian” and life as “full of surprises.”
“Neither Patrick nor I wanted this. Our paths unexpectedly crossed. “Never give up,” he insisted. “Every time this great woman loves me, I’m stunned,” Duffy said to the outlet. Amazing!”
Patrick Duffy has no regrets about his life’s tragedies. “I’ve worked hard to make the best of life,” he told Closer Weekly.
