Patrick Duffy

Patrick Duffy married Carlyn Rosser in a Buddhist ceremony on February 15, 1974. Carlyn was ten years senior to him. Together the couple has two children, Padraic and Conor.

Rosser introduced him to Buddhism and he has been practising the same for the past three decades. She passed away on January 23, 2017.

In 1986, Duffy suffered a tragedy wherein his parents were murdered by two teenaged thieves in an incident of armed theft in Boulder, Montana. The two murderers were captured and brought to trial and were sentenced to 75 years of imprisonment.

Patrick Duffy was born on March 17, 1949, in Townsend, Montana to Marie and Terence Duffy. He was the second child and only son of his parents. His family ran a local tavern so he had a very humble upbringing.

At the age of 12, Duffy moved to Everett, Washington where he studied at the Cascade High School.

Being a member of the Drama Club and the Pep Club, he participated in several school dramas. His passion for acting took him to the Professional Actors Training Program at the University of Washington, Seattle where he was one of the few people selected from over 1200 applicants. He graduated with a degree in drama in 1971.

In his senior year of college, Duffy ruptured both his vocal cords so he started working as an ‘Artist-in-Residence’ for the state of Washington. Additionally he also took mime and movement classes. It was during this time he first met his wife, Carlyn Rosser, a ballet dancer, who then worked with the First Chamber Dance Company of New York.

On his wife’s insistence, Patrick Duffy moved to New York, where he worked on several Broadway plays while also working as a carpenter to earn a decent living. He worked on an Off-Broadway production of William Inge's play ‘Natural Affection’.

Duffy and his wife then moved to Los Angeles, California following Duffy’s agent’s suggestion. He continued to struggle as an actor, taking up small roles in films and TV shows while working as a florist delivery truck driver.

In 1977, Duffy finally got his breakthrough with the TV series ‘Man from Atlantis’ in which he played the role of Mark Harris, a creature from the lost island of Atlantis who is discovered by a scientist. However, the show was cancelled the following year after which he bagged his career-defining role in the soap opera ‘Dallas’.

‘Dallas’ came out in early 1978 in which Duffy played the role of the good guy, Bobby Ewing and shared screen-space with Barbara Bel Geddes and Larry Hagman. The show went on to become a phenomenal success. Duffy remained with the show till 1985 after which he decided to quit. He stated that he was bored of playing the ‘good guy’ and wanted to explore interesting options. His character was supposedly killed off to mark his end on the show.

In the subsequent year, Duffy was requested to re-join the cast of ‘Dallas’ as his exit caused a decline in the show’s ratings. His character made a comeback in the famous ‘shower scene’ where his demise was said to be a mere dream. He went on to play the role till the show finally ended in 1991.

He was named Patrick because he was born on St. Patrick's Day.

As a kid, Duffy always wanted to become a professional athlete so he became a certified scuba diver as a teenager.

In an interview, he stated that he converted to Buddhism only because he wanted to date his to-be wife, Carlyn Rosser.

Barry Zito, the Major League Baseball pitcher, is his nephew.

Patrick published his first science fiction ‘Man from Atlantis’ in 2016.