Age: 75
Birthplace: Townsend, Montana, U.S.
Patrick Duffy (born March 17, 1949) is an American actor, best known for his role on the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas, where he played Bobby Ewing from 1978 to 1985 and from 1986 to 1991. Duffy returned to reprise his role as Bobby in a continuation of Dallas, which aired on TNT from 2012 to 2014. He is also well known for his role on the ABC sitcom Step by Step as Frank Lambert, from 1991 to 1998, and for his role as Stephen Logan on the CBS daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (2006-2011). Duffy plays the lead character's father in the 2014 NBC sitcom Welcome to Sweden.
Duffy was born in Townsend, Montana, the son of tavern owners Marie and Terence Duffy. During high school, Duffy was living in Everett, Washington, and attended Cascade High School. At Cascade, he participated in the Drama Club and the Pep Club, for which he was a Yell King. Academically, Duffy earned credentials in theater arts that entitled him to teach, graduating from the University of Washington in 1971 with a degree in drama. He ruptured both his vocal cords during his senior year of college, so he created the position of actor-in-residence, where he worked as an interpreter for ballet, opera, and orchestra companies in Washington. He also taught mime and movement classes during this period.
In 1976, Duffy landed the role of Mark Harris in the short-lived television series Man from Atlantis. Following the series' cancellation in early 1978, he got his big break in the role of Bobby Ewing on the soap opera Dallas. The show became a worldwide success. Despite its success, Duffy opted to leave the series in 1985 with his character being killed off onscreen. However, with both the show and his career on the decline, he returned in 1986 in the infamous shower scene that rendered the entire 1985-1986 season "just a dream." Duffy then remained with the series until its cancellation in 1991. He also appeared in several episodes of the spin-off series Knots Landing between 1979-82. Throughout the 13-year run of Dallas, Duffy directed several episodes of the series. Along with Dallas fame, Duffy has also tried his hand at singing, and in 1983, he had a hit in Europe with "Together We're Strong", a duet with French female singer Mireille Mathieu. The single reached #5 in the Netherlands in April 1983.
At the end of Dallas' run in 1991, Duffy began another television role, as Frank Lambert on the family sitcom, Step by Step in which he co-starred with Suzanne Somers. The series ran until 1998, and Duffy also directed numerous episodes. Also in the 1990s, he appeared in two Dallas reunion television movies; J.R. Returns (1996) and War of the Ewings (1998), both of which he also co-produced. He has reunited on several occasions with many of his Dallas co-stars both onscreen and off, most notably for the non-fiction television special Dallas Reunion: Return to Southfork in 2004. Duffy later continued to act in the occasional guest or voice acting appearance, including the series Family Guy (in which he appeared in a live action scene with Victoria Principal as they spoofed the Dallas shower scene), as well as Justice League and Touched by an Angel. Duffy starred in the television movies Falling in Love With the Girl Next Door and Desolation Canyon. In 2006, he began a recurring role on the daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful as Stephen Logan. From April to July 2008, he hosted Bingo America, a partially interactive game show on GSN.
Duffy reprised his role as Bobby Ewing in TNT's remake of Dallas. The series aired from 2012 to 2014.
Duffy married Carlyn Rosser, a professional ballerina 10 years his senior, in a Soka Gakkai International Buddhist ceremony on February 15, 1974. They live near Eagle Point, Oregon, with their sons Padraic Terence Duffy (b. 1974) and Conor Frederick Duffy (b. 1979). They also have four grandchildren. Duffy was an avid collector of antique dolls and children's books. He converted to Nichiren Buddhism, and began chanting Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō at the approximate time of his earliest encounters with his wife, who was then a ballet dancer with the First Chamber Dance Company of New York. He and his family are longtime members of the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International.
Duffy's nephew is Major League Baseball pitcher Barry Zito.
Longtime fan, and future crew-member, Andrea Cantrell was asked to create a photo album of the Ewing Family in 2012. She was having difficulty finding appropriate pictures, since many of the new cast members could only provide recent snaps. Her efforts were further hampered because the images of two original Dallas stars, late actors Jim Davis and Barbara Bel Geddes, were controlled by the handlers of their estate. Then, after struggling, Duffy came to the rescue. He asked his wife to send a box of pictures to Cantrell. All of the pictures were of Duffy's real-life family and were taken decades ago, including baby pictures of Patrick. Since his mother bore a slight resemblance to his acting mentor, Bel Geddes, Cantrell was able to use a baby photo of Patrick being held by his mom in the show, allowing his late parents to make a cameo on the revised Dallas series.
On November 18, 1986, Duffy's parents were murdered by two young men, Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz, during an armed robbery of the Boulder, Montana tavern that his parents owned. Wentz and Miller, who were teenagers at the time, were convicted of the murders and sentenced to 75 years in prison. In 2001, Miller appeared before the Montana Parole board after Sean Wentz recanted his original story, admitting that he was the sole gunman. Miller was denied clemency in 2001 but was released on parole in December 2007.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1974 | The Stranger Who Looks Like Me | Adoptee#3 | TV movie |
1974 | Hurricane | Jim | TV movie |
1976 | Switch | Episode: "The Walking Bomb" | |
1976 | The Last of Mrs. Lincoln | Lewis Baker | TV movie |
1977-78 | Man from Atlantis | Mark Harris | Series regular (17 episodes) |
1978-85; 1986-91 | Dallas | Bobby Ewing | Series regular (326 episodes) Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Actor in a Prime Time Serial (1985) Special Bambi Award (1987) TV Land Pop Culture Award (2006) Nominated - Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Actor in a Prime Time (1988, 1990, 1992) Nominated - Soap Opera Digest Award for Favorite Super Couple: Prime Time (1988) |
1979-1982 | Knots Landing | Episode: "Pilot" Episode: "The Loudest Word" Episode: "New Beginnings" |
|
1980 | Charlie's Angels | William Cord | "One Love...Two Angels" (1) "One Love...Two Angels" (2) |
1980 | Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb | Colonel Paul Tibbets | TV movie |
1981 | The Love Boat | Ralph Sutton | Episodes: "The Expedition" 1 and 2 |
1982 | Cry for the Strangers | Dr. Brad Russell | TV movie |
1983 | Auf los geht's los | Singer | Episode: "Nachthemdfolge" |
1984 | Vamping | Harry Baranski | |
1985 | From Here to Maternity | Henderson | TV movie |
1985 | Hotel | Richard Martin | Episode: "Missing Pieces" |
1985 | George Burns Comedy Week | Episode: "Dream, Dream, Dream" | |
1985 | Alice in Wonderland | Goat | TV Movie |
1986 | Strong Medicine | Dr. Andrew Jordan | TV movie |
1987 | Our House | Johnny Witherspoon | Episode: "Candles and Shadows" |
1988 | 14 Going on 30 | TV movie | |
1988 | Unholy Matrimony | John Dillman | TV movie |
1988 | Too Good to Be True | Richard Harland | TV movie |
1990 | Murder C.O.D. | Steve Murtaugh | TV movie |
1990 | Children of the Bride | John Hix | TV movie |
1991 | Daddy | Oliver Watson | TV movie |
1991-98 | Step by Step | Frank Lambert | Series regular (160 episodes) |
1994 | Texas | Stephen Austin | TV movie |
1996 | Dallas: J.R. Returns | Bobby Ewing | TV movie |
1997 | Heart of Fire | Max Tucker | TV movie |
1998 | Dallas: War of the Ewings | Bobby Ewing | TV movie |
1998 | Rusty: A Dog's Tale | Cap the Dog | Voice |
1998 | Diagnosis: Murder | Wayde Garrett | Episode: "Till Death Do Us Part" |
1999 | Dead Man's Gun | Lyman Gage | Episode: "The Womanizer" |
1999 | Don't Look Behind You | Jeff Corrigan | TV movie |
1999 | Twice in a Lifetime | Peter Hogan | Episode: "A Match Made in Heaven" |
1999, 2001 | Family Guy | Bobby Ewing Jack/Salesman/Teacher |
Voice Episode: "Da Boom" Episode: "And the Wiener Is..." |
2000 | The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne | Duke Angelo Rimini | Episode: "Rockets of the Dead" |
2000 | Perfect Game | Coach Bobby Geiser | TV movie |
2002 | Justice League | Steve Trevor | Voice Episode: "The Savage Time" 1, 2 & 3 |
2003 | Touched by an Angel | Mike | Episode: "I Will Walk with You" 1 & 2 |
2004 | Reba | Dr. Joe Baker | Episode: "Couples' Therapy" |
2006 | Desolation Canyon | Sheriff Tomas 'Swede' Lundstrom | TV movie |
2006 | Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door | James Connolly | TV movie |
2006-11 | The Bold and the Beautiful | Stephen Logan | Series regular, (165 episodes) |
2007 | Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story | Himself | Uncredited Cameo (Unrated Version) |
2008 | He's Such a Girl | Whitney's Father | |
2009 | Love Takes Wing | Mayor Evans | TV movie |
2010 | Healing Hands | Uncle Norman | TV movie |
2010 | You Again | Ritchie Phillips | Cameo |
2010 | Party Down | Himself | Cameo |
2012-14 | Dallas | Bobby Ewing | Series regular (40 episodes) |
2012 | Lovin' Lakin | Himself | Episode: "Lakin Visits Her Dad" |
2014 | Welcome to Sweden | Wayne Evans | Season 1 Episode 6 |