Published on: December 19, 2024, 02:13h.
Last updated on: December 19, 2024, 03:22h.
He is best known for his role as a teen idol in the 1970s TV show “The Partridge Family.” David Cassidy, who passed away in 2017, found a second career in Las Vegas that was more meaningful to him than his previous fame as a teenage heartthrob.
After “The Partridge Family” was canceled by ABC in 1974 due to declining ratings, Cassidy pursued his solo music career that he had started while playing Keith Partridge on TV. However, none of his albums released in 1975 and 1976 produced a hit song.
Despite trying to land roles in other TV shows, Cassidy’s diminishing stardom limited his opportunities. He only managed to secure guest appearances. His performance in a 1978 episode of “Police Story” earned him an Emmy nomination, leading NBC to create a series based on it. However, “David Cassidy: Man Undercover” was canceled after one season.
By the 1980s, Cassidy, still in his thirties, was financially struggling despite his fame.
“People assumed that my success came easy,” he told an interviewer in 2001. “The more famous and successful you are, the harder it is to stay relevant and climb back up again.”
Discovering a New Stage
Cassidy found joy and success in returning to musical theater. Before pursuing his TV career in LA, he made his professional debut on Broadway in “The Fig Leaves Are Falling” in 1969.
In 1982, Cassidy replaced Donny Osmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Broadway production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
He later appeared in the West End production of “Time” in London in 1987 and returned to Broadway in “Blood Brothers” from April 1993 to June 1994, alongside his half-brother Shaun Cassidy.
“Working in live theater gives you an immediate connection with the audience that you can’t experience in film or recordings,” Cassidy shared with the Las Vegas Sun in 2001.
Heading to Vegas
When Michael Crawford, the original star of the MGM Grand’s “EFX,” got injured, the show’s producers approached Cassidy to step in after being impressed by his performance in “Blood Brothers.”
Known for its spectacular special effects, “EFX” captivated audiences more with its visuals than its storyline, which featured the main character time-traveling through different eras. Cassidy’s name shone brightly on the MGM Grand’s marquee and promotions from November 1996 to December 1998.
Due to the physical demands of the show, Cassidy chose not to renew his contract for 1999. Nevertheless, he continued to work in Vegas, particularly in Henderson, where he resided with his third wife, Sue Shifrin, and their son, Beau, until 2003.
Cassidy produced and directed “The Rat Pack is Back,” a tribute show to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. The production debuted at the Desert Inn in 1999 and concluded at the Sahara in 2002. Cassidy occasionally appeared in it as Bobby Darin, singing “Mack the Knife.”
“It honors an era in our culture that I feel is somewhat overlooked, especially in Las Vegas, where new corporations come in and erase the history,” Cassidy explained. “It occupies its own niche, not competing with grand productions like ‘O’ or ‘Mystere.’ It is what it is—a musical play that transports you to 1961, a simpler time of freedom and fewer complexities.”
Despite legal challenges from the estates of Sinatra and Davis Jr., Cassidy dedicated time and resources to defend the show, eventually winning in court. The rights to “The Rat Pack is Back” were later acquired by producer Dick Feeney, who ran the production in Vegas until 2020.
Subsequently, Cassidy created and produced “At the Copa,” where he also starred (alongside Sheena Easton) as Johnny Flamingo, a busboy turned singer. The show ran from January 2000 to January 2001.
“I was juggling two show producer roles while performing six nights a week,” Cassidy recalled. “I had 77 employees at one point. It became overwhelming, and I was missing out on important events, like my son’s baseball games.”
“I kept pushing everything to my only day off,” he revealed. “It became too much for me to handle. I missed a lot, and that’s when it became a problem.”
Final Chapter
In 2003, Cassidy returned to Fort Lauderdale, FL, where he began performing concerts again. He spent the rest of his life touring as a nostalgia act, entertaining his original female fans from the 1970s with hits from “The Partridge Family.”
“My current success is a direct result of my past glory,” he shared. “I enjoyed it, even though I tried to distance myself creatively from it to show the world more of my capabilities. It’s been an amazing journey that I plan to continue until the end.”
His final performance was in LA on Feb. 20, 2017, where he struggled with memory loss and fell off stage. Following the incident going viral, Cassidy appeared on the “Dr. Phil” show to announce his retirement due to dementia, a condition he battled due to early-onset disease inherited from his parents.
However, in a later conversation with an A&E producer, Cassidy revealed that his health issue was actually liver disease caused by alcohol abuse, despite claiming sobriety after multiple DUI arrests in the 2010s.
“I lied about my drinking,” he confessed. “I did it to myself to mask my sorrow and emptiness.”
On November 21, 2017, Cassidy passed away due to liver failure while awaiting a transplant. His daughter, Katie Cassidy, shared that his final words were “So much wasted time.”
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