Patrick Duffy

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Birthday:

17 March 1949, Townsend, Montana, USA

Birth Name:

Patrick G. Duffy

Height:

188 cm

Youngest of 2 children, and only son born to Terrence and Marie Duffy. He is NOT related to Julia Duffy, of Newhart (1982) fame. Patrick was born in Montana, where his parents owned local taverns, and raised in Seattle since age 12. He wanted to become a professional athlete, and became a certified scuba diver while in his teens. However, his involvement in his high school's drama department led him to apply to the Professional Actors Training Program at the University of Washington, Seattle. He was one of 12 people accepted, from over 1,200 applicants. He ruptured both of his vocal cords during his senior year of college, but 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. Around this time, he met his wife, Carlyn, a ballet dancer with the First Chamber Dance Company of New York. Carlyn introduced Patrick to Buddhism, which he has practiced for the past 30 years. The couple married in a Buddhist temple in 1974. They then moved to New York, where Patrick appeared in Off-Broadway plays, and supported himself and his wife by working as a carpenter. The couple then moved to Hollywood, where he drove a florist's delivery truck, and landed small roles in film and television. His son, Padraic Duffy, was born in 1974/5. In 1976, Patrick was working as a house painter when he landed the role of "Mark Harris" in the TV series Man from Atlantis (1977). Two years later, he won the role of "Bobby Ewing" on Dallas (1978). His second son, Conor Duffy, was born in 1979/80. In 1986, his parents were murdered by 2 teenagers who raided their tavern in Montana. Patrick has continued to work, however, starring in a variety of TV movies, and as "Frank Lambert" on his third TV series, Step by Step (1991). Since SBS was canceled in 1997, Patrick has continued to pursue his TV career, which includes 2 Dallas reunion movies. He and his wife live in the Los Angeles area, and also own a home in southern Oregon. Show less «

I'm one of the lucky actors in television. I don't make a lot of big waves, but there's constant activity, and that's the way I prefer to li...Show more »

I'm one of the lucky actors in television. I don't make a lot of big waves, but there's constant activity, and that's the way I prefer to live my life. Show less «

[when asked if he would write his autobiography] No. I lead a normal life and I don't assume there is anything I can impart to people. The o...Show more »

[when asked if he would write his autobiography] No. I lead a normal life and I don't assume there is anything I can impart to people. The only reason to write a book would be to make money, and I don't want to do that. To write a book would be going against how I've lived. Show less «

I miss regular television. I miss the work ethic of those 5 day a week things. So, eventually, I'd like to get back to that. [2000]

With a new house, you can pick everything. It's the ability to create what you have in your mind as the perfect house.

[on being born on St. Patrick's Day]: Good luck happens to people who work hard for it. Sometimes people just fall into the honey pot, but I...Show more »

[on being born on St. Patrick's Day]: Good luck happens to people who work hard for it. Sometimes people just fall into the honey pot, but I've consistently strived to create whatever good fortune I can get in my life - and consistently strive just as hard not to screw it up once I have it! It's great to be able to do shows like Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door, which I think is entirely too long of a title. Show less «

[on his on- and off-screen relationship with Larry Hagman, who played JR Ewing]: I think it literally changed when Larry Hagman walked into ...Show more »

[on his on- and off-screen relationship with Larry Hagman, who played JR Ewing]: I think it literally changed when Larry Hagman walked into the first scene he was in. He had whatever it was that JR needed to be the instigator in a show that was sorely sorely missing that. I don't know when we realized it but I know that's when it happened. You couldn't take your eyes off Hagman in any scene he was in. Someone like Leonard Katzman who had been in the business as long as he had recognized that stroke of fortune and luck. It's like having Henry Winkler as the Fonz, it was never intended that Henry Winkler was going to be the keystone of Happy Days, it was going to be Ron Howard - the boy next door. Our show would never have gone beyond three or four years if it had been just a love story of Bobby and Pam. That's why Larry Hagman is the dearest friend I have in the world for the past thirty years. Because I have nothing but 100% appreciation and love for not only him as a person but for what he did that created the rest of my life. Show less «

[on Larry Hagman] Larry was the ringleader, who started the family feeling in the cast from the very first day of the reading. It was sort o...Show more »

[on Larry Hagman] Larry was the ringleader, who started the family feeling in the cast from the very first day of the reading. It was sort of like, 'Follow the Pied Piper,' Follow the corks! But it was that kind of thing. We'd all gather after every shot in Larry's little converted bread van and have this best time and it never ended for 13 years. Show less «

[on Barbara Bel Geddes] When Barbara joined the cast of Dallas (1978), as Miss Ellie, I considered her to be like Helen Hayes, Katherine Cor...Show more »

[on Barbara Bel Geddes] When Barbara joined the cast of Dallas (1978), as Miss Ellie, I considered her to be like Helen Hayes, Katherine Cornell, and Ethel Barrymore - a real 'name' in American theater. But you'd never have known it. She exhibited no large ego because of her history. She'd schlepp in and drop your jaw with every performance - whether it was drinking a cup of coffee, having a mastectomy, or losing Jock Ewing. It was remarkable, her ordinariness despite that pedigree. We called Barbara 'BBG' on the set. She was the mama figure. Larry Hagman was obviously the prow of the boat, but he couldn't have functioned without a strong mother, and I don't think there's been a mother like her on dramatic television since then. People related to her because she was the epitome of compassion despite her own pain. Off-screen, she was a pistol. She cussed like a mule skinner, and she really liked to have her drinks. But she also had an endless capacity to include everybody that she loved, and that was the entire cast. Show less «

[on his on- and off-screen chemistry with Barbara Bel Geddes, who played Miss Ellie Ewing]: Oh, the best. First of all, I have a great histo...Show more »

[on his on- and off-screen chemistry with Barbara Bel Geddes, who played Miss Ellie Ewing]: Oh, the best. First of all, I have a great history with Barbara by virtue of my wife. My wife's father worked with Barbara's father. He was a very famous American architect, Norman Bel Geddes in New York. My wife saw Barbara Bel Geddes in her first Broadway play, when she played in The Moon is Blue, which was a sin: S.I.N sational play because the word virgin was used for the first time on stage which you know, caused a fury in this country. So by the time I got on the soundstage for the first time with Barbara, I had all this common ground that we could discuss and she's the great American film star. She's right up there with Julie Harris and people like that. She added a weight to the show, an anchor that essentially everything pivoted around. It was a patriarchal show that we all tried to please Daddy, but in terms of Daddy trying to please Momma. So, if you look at it, it was Barbara's show and working with her all those years was brilliant. Show less «

[on the death of Barbara Bel Geddes]: On Dallas, she made 'Mama,' more than just a character phrase.

[along with Jim Davis, he said his deceased co-star Barbara Bel Geddes will be together on an elegant painting portrait of his TV parents]: ...Show more »

[along with Jim Davis, he said his deceased co-star Barbara Bel Geddes will be together on an elegant painting portrait of his TV parents]: That painting is actually alive and gives me a nice feeling that they're always there. Through the whole first season, I don't think an episode goes by that Mama is not mentioned in reference to Southfork and the land. Show less «

[when co-starring in the revamp Dallas (2012) series, the show along with himself needed to go on without Barbara Bel Geddes, who died in 20...Show more »

[when co-starring in the revamp Dallas (2012) series, the show along with himself needed to go on without Barbara Bel Geddes, who died in 2005] Barbara is a big piece of our history, and it's important to me to honor her. To come back with Linda Gray as Sue Ellen and Larry [Larry Hagman] in his J.R. hat, and then see the words 'Ellie Southworth Ewing Farlow' on the gravestone made me think, 'Oh, that's right -- she's gone.' It was hard to get through the dialogue. Show less «

[on the death of Larry Hagman] These two are two of my closest friends, and I actually knew somewhere in my heart that we would never work t...Show more »

[on the death of Larry Hagman] These two are two of my closest friends, and I actually knew somewhere in my heart that we would never work together again because the three of us couldn't come into a scene without everybody saying, 'Oh, there's J.R., Sue Ellen and Bobby.' And that hurt me. I really wanted to work with them again. So this is the best thing that could happen in my career life. Show less «

[on Larry Hagman and the revival series] His character was such a larger-than-life-being that we still reference him on the show. And a lot ...Show more »

[on Larry Hagman and the revival series] His character was such a larger-than-life-being that we still reference him on the show. And a lot of the plot devices that we're dealing with, we attribute to the character of J.R. 'Oh, my God!If it hadn't been for that, then this thing wouldn't have happened. Damn him.' But there he is. He's omnipresent and that's good. [2014] Show less «

[on Hotel Dallas (2016)] For years, Larry Hagman would tell me how he took personal credit for defeating communism [in Romania]. I used to t...Show more »

[on Hotel Dallas (2016)] For years, Larry Hagman would tell me how he took personal credit for defeating communism [in Romania]. I used to take that with a grain of salt, but over the years, I had the strangest series of coincidences. I was at the Washington correspondents' dinner, and the Romanian ambassador ran over to shake my hand and tell me how important Dallas (1978) was to defeating the communist regime. Then, just last June, I was in Monte Carlo with my wife and the same thing happened: The Romanian ambassador there came over, his eyes welled up with tears, and he took his pin - of the Romanian flag - and pinned it on my jacket. (...) I admit, at first I didn't understand it [the "Hotel Dallas" project]. It wasn't the kind of movie I'm used to seeing. So I showed it to my sons, who said, 'This is brilliant, you have to get involved.' [2016] Show less «