David Cassidy, the teen and pre-teen idol who starred in the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family, died Tuesday at age 67.
Cassidy, who announced earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with dementia, died surrounded by his family, a family statement released by publicist JoAnn Geffen said. No further details were immediately available, but Geffen said on Saturday that Cassidy was in a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hospital suffering from organ failure.
“David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long,” the statement said. “Thank you for the abundance and support you have shown him these many years.”
READ MORE: David Cassidy, ‘Partridge Family’ star, dead at 67
Many people may know Cassidy as the eldest son and teen heartthrob Keith Partridge from The Partridge Family, which aired from 1970-74, but here are some things about Cassidy you most likely didn’t know.
Cassidy didn’t know his stepmother had been hired as his co-star on The Partridge Family until after he was cast as Keith
Shirley Jones played Shirley Partridge, a widow with five children with whom she forms a popular act that travels on a psychedelic bus. The cast also featured Cassidy as eldest son Keith Partridge.
Jones, the Oscar-winning actress and Cassidy’s stepmother, was cast as Shirley Partridge but Cassidy didn’t know she got the part until after he was cast as Keith.
“He has his own agent and didn’t even know I was set for the lead,” Jones revealed. “Nor did the producer realize he was Jack’s son until after he read so well that he wanted to test David for the part. Then, he told me he was considering David for the role of my son. He asked me how I felt about it. I said, ‘Great! I am crazy about him. He’s very talented.’ Then, he went back to David and told him, ‘Your stepmother is going to play the lead.’ How do you feel about that? And he replied, ‘I think it’s great!'”
Cassidy’s official fan club exceeded that of Elvis Presley and The Beatles
At the age of 21, Cassidy briefly became the world’s highest-paid live entertainer after launching his solo career as a singer. His official fan club was the largest in pop history exceeding that of Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
READ MORE: Ex-‘Partridge Family’ star has dementia
“In two years, David Cassidy has swept hurricane-like into the pre-pubescent lives of millions of American girls,” Rolling Stone magazine noted in 1972. “Leaving: six and a half million long-playing albums and singles; 44 television programs; David Cassidy lunch boxes; David Cassidy bubble gum; David Cassidy coloring books and David Cassidy pens; not to mention several millions of teen magazines, wall stickers, love beads, posters and photo albums.”
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Australian officials called for him to be deported in 1974
Cassidy toured the world and was greeted by screaming fans when he landed in Australia in 1974. He played to a crowd of 33,000 fans at Melbourne’s MCG arena, which led to calls for him to be deported.
According to Cassidy’s official website, he caused “such mass hysteria” that Australian officials “threatened to throw him out of their country as a health hazard.”
A young girl was crushed to death at his concert in 1974 in the U.K.
Nearly 800 people were injured in a stampede at Cassidy’s concert in London’s White City Stadium in May 1974. A few days later, 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, who had been unconscious since the hysterical crush, became the first fatality at a concert in the U.K.
The singer was traumatized by the death of Whelan and decided to quit touring and acting to concentrate on his recording career.
“I feel burnt up inside,” he told the Daily Mail at the time. “I’m 24, a big star … in a position that millions dream of, but the truth is I just can’t enjoy it.”
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He posed naked for Rolling Stone to break away from the wholesome character he played in The Partridge Family
Even while The Partridge Family was still in prime time, Cassidy worried that he was mistaken for the wholesome character he played.
He posed naked for Rolling Stone in 1972, when he confided that he had dropped acid as a teenager and smoked pot in front of the magazine’s reporter as he watched an episode of The Partridge Family and mocked his own acting.
Cassidy maintained an exhausting schedule during the show’s run, filming during the week and performing live shows over the weekend, but had plenty of time to indulge himself. In the memoir Could It Be Forever, he wrote of his prolific sex life and of rejecting Susan Dey’s advances because she lacked the “sl**ty aspect of a female that I always found so attractive.”
Cassidy’s daughter, Katie Cassidy, currently appears on the TV series, Arrow
Katie Cassidy currently plays Laurel Lance/Black Canary on the TV series, Arrow, which is about the DC comics superhero, Green Arrow. She also has a popular lifestyle and fashion blog, Tomboy KC.
Katie is Cassidy’s daughter from a relationship with Sherry William Benedon. The pair had a strained father-daughter relationship.
“I wasn’t her father. I was her biological father, but I didn’t raise her. She has a completely different life,” he admitted in a 2017 interview with People Magazine. However, he did say he was proud of her.
“She’s very talented,” he said. “It’s hard for me to even accept how old she is now, like 30.”
Cassidy was married three times
Cassidy was previously married to actress Kay Lenz from 1977-1983 and Meryl Tanz from 1984-1986. His third wife was actress Sue Shifrin but the pair separated in 2013 and their divorce was finalized in 2016.
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He lost most of his Partridge Family memorabilia
Cassidy lost most of the memorabilia in an earthquake in 1994. ”I had the stuff in a big box that was crushed. I think even the lunch box is a goner,” Cassidy said.
He wrote and performed the theme song to The John Larroquette Show
“I submitted the music under a false name, Blind Lemon Jackson,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 1994. “When the producers called they were surprised they were talking to David Cassidy.”
—With files from the Associated Press
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