You need to know
Jack Cassidy was a famous talent in the 60s, but even the closest to Tony’s winners say he didn’t know who he really was.
Sean Cassidy tells people that, at least publicly, his father was a bit “fake.”
“My dad was very complicated,” says the former teen idol, 66. “He basically invented this public persona with an accent that doesn’t exist in any country.”
Born in New York City, Jack was welcomed by his engineering family and thought he would follow in the footsteps of the railroad family until he saw the bright lights of Broadway at the age of 14 and fell in love with the world of entertainment.
NBCU Photobank/Getty
Once his star became Rose, he and her actors appeared on talk shows and began talking with his boundaries and British accents.
“Patrick, Ryan and I, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?'” Sean recalls. “I mean, it seems so false to us, and it’s not that he is. I don’t know if he really understood who he is.”
Jack died in his apartment in 1976. He was 49 years old.
“He wasn’t a good father, and I’m not saying that in a light-hearted way. I just say it objectively,” adds Sean. “Even so, I wouldn’t have traded him for the world. I got lots of gifts from him.”
Still, WC Field and my star were not the most current dads at all when my son was at age.
“I didn’t get a dad who went to small league games, or took me on camping trips or anything like that. My mother says of Oscar-winning actress Shirley Jones. “My mother appeared in a lot of those things, but there were a lot of her. She made movies all over the world.
Jack and Shirley, who married in 1956 and divorced in 1975, often did not recognize them as such, their son says.
“Who they are really, isn’t how they are perceived by the public anyway. The public is thinking who they are,” Sean tells people. “If you grew up in a Showfolk family, everything is very presented.”
Vinnie Zuffante/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
“I told my siblings about this the other day, and there were very few photos of the family sitting around the living room.
It didn’t take long for Sean to realize that his parents were very concerned about their public perceptions, but he liked people to favour his mother and father.
“It was revealed with them as a little kid, and everyone was in love with my mother, and everyone was amazed by my father,” he recalls. “I was proud of it and said, ‘Oh, isn’t that cool?’
“I remember thinking my mother was really beautiful. I didn’t know how beautiful she was. I was just a little kid. Now I’m looking at her. She’s still there. She’s only 91 years old and looks younger than us.”
American broadcasting company/Getty
In many ways, Sean raised himself while his parents were at work. Growing up in Los Angeles, he often confided in children of other actors who faced similar challenges.
“I have an entire group of friends, kids, we were like peanuts,” he says, referring to the famous cartoon. “My parents weren’t around, and yet we all had similar backgrounds. I mean, Carrie Fisher had two doors and she was my good companion. We all got through it with the challenge.
The teenage idol who grew up, the singer of “Dadoulong Ron” retreated from the spotlight of the 90s and soon began her career as a TV show writer, producer and creator.
But Stage is calling him again. Sean began his 50-city The Road To Us tour in Nashville’s Grand Oleople on September 13th. This marks the first full arena tour of the “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll” singer since 1980 and his longest tour.