ACTOR
David Cassidy
- Known for
- The Partridge Family (1970)
43 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
David Cassidy is an actor best known for The Partridge Family.
David Cassidy's Parents and Marriages: 17 Family Facts
- #005
His acting mentor was his real-life former stepmother Shirley Jones, with whom he had a wonderful relationship both in real life and while working on The Partridge Family (1970). He admitted he had been in love with Shirley since he was 6 years old, when his family took him to see the film Oklahoma! (1955).
- #006
At the height of his reign as a teen idol, David led an anti-smoking campaign despite being a smoker himself. It was largely a response to the death of his father Jack, which occurred when Jack accidentally dropped a lit cigarette onto a couch and started a fire that destroyed the apartment, with Jack inside.
- #009
After his death, there was no public memorial or funeral service. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at a racetrack.
- #010
He was the son of actress Evelyn Ward and actor Jack Cassidy.
- #012
He was the older half-brother of Shaun Cassidy, Ryan Cassidy and Patrick Cassidy.
- #017
In 2008, David Cassidy publicly admitted that he had struggled with alcoholism for much of his life and had undergone treatment in rehabilitation three separate times because of the illness. Two years later, as if to underscore that announcement, Cassidy was arrested for driving under the influence in Florida on November 3.
- #019
Both he and his stepmother, the actress-singer Shirley Jones, appeared on the cover of the prestigious Life magazine at the age of 21. He did so in 1971, and she in early 1956.
- #020
At the age of 11 he underwent surgery on his left optic nerve for a blood vessel that had wrapped around it, which sometimes left him with a "lazy" eye when he was overly tired. He also had his gallbladder removed in 1972 after a concert in Wildwood, New Jersey.
- #025
He said that his mother, Evelyn Ward, who had dementia, knew him before she died, with a single tear in her eye.
- #028
His mother, Evelyn Ward, died on December 23, 2012, at the age of 89.
- #032
A former pop idol, he won 18 gold records and then left the pop world in 1974 to live in Hawaii and focus on horses after marrying Meryl Tanz, a racehorse breeder, to whom he was married for 10 years.
- #034
His father was of half Irish and half German descent. His mother was mainly of Colonial American (English) descent, with smaller amounts of Irish and Swiss-German roots.
- #036
In the late 1980s, he underwent therapy for his alcoholism three times a week for three years.
- #038
He was the uncle of Jack Cassidy (born Edward John Joseph Cassidy), Caitlin Cassidy and John Cassidy (born Joseph Edward John Cassidy).
- #039
He was the former stepson of Elliot Silverstein.
- #041
He said his father Jack Cassidy was jealous of his success and resentful.
- #043
He was of German and Irish descent.
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