Jack Cassidy
John Joseph Edward "Jack" Cassidy ( born March 5, 1927 in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York, † December 12, 1976 in Hollywood ) was an American actor and singer. He was a celebrated stage star on Broadway and also appeared on television.
Life
He was born as the youngest son of a German mother and an Irish father. His father was a railway engineer. At 15, he left school to become an actor.
In 1943 he was in New York in the musical Something For the Boys for the first time on a stage. In the following years he became the musical star. He had the first lead role in the musical Wish You Were Here. During the 1950s and 1960s he starred in the Broadway productions Sandhog, She Loves Me, Fade Out, Fade In and It's A Bird ... It's A Plane ... It's Superman and Maggie Flynn. 1964 Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in the musical She Loves Me, he was awarded.
With his wife, the actress and singer Shirley Jones, he produced in the 1950s musical records. In addition, he was heard on plates with soundtracks of Broadway productions.
In parallel, he appeared on television, mostly as a guest star in TV series such as Bewitched, Columbo ( where he appeared three times in the role of the murderer ) and Bonanza. In 1967 he received the lead role of Oscar North in the series He and She, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. In 1970 he was offered the role of the vain newscaster Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show (Eng. Oh Mary ), but he declined this off and instead took on the role of his brother Hal. In 1974 he played the title role in the TV thriller The Phantom of Hollywood, which was based on subjects far removed from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.
Cassidy was an alcoholic and tended to experience more stress to excesses. He died in December 1976 in a fire at his home in West Hollywood. He had smoked and had fallen asleep there.
Cassidy was married twice. In 1948 he married the actress Evelyn Ward, with whom he had a son, David Cassidy, who was an international teen idol in the 1970s. 1956 married Jack Cassidy, the actress Shirley Jones. From this marriage, which was divorced in 1974, come the sons Shaun Paul, Patrick William Ryan and John, who are also active in the entertainment industry.
Discography
- Babes in Arms, Columbia, 1951
- Roberta, Columbia, 1952
- Wish You Were Here, BMG / RCA Victor, 1952
- On Your Toes, Columbia, 1952
- Anything Goes, RCA, 1953
- Jumbo, RCA, 1953
- Boys from Syracuse, Columbia, 1953
- Oh Kay! , Columbia, 1957
- Speaking of Love, Columbia, 1957 ( with Shirley Jones)
- Brigadoon, Columbia, 1957
- With Love from Hollywood, Columbia, 1958 ( with Shirley Jones)
- Marriage Type Love, RCA Victor, 1958 ( with Shirley Jones)
- She Loves Me, MGM, 1963
- Fade Out, Fade In, ABC, 1964
- Maggie Flynn, RCA, 1968
- Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy Show Tunes, Sony, 1995
- Broadway's Greatest Leading Men, Decca Broadway, 2000
- Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, DRG Records, 2002