Patrick Duffy (born March 17, 1949) is an American actor and director widely known for his role as Bobby Ewing on the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas (1978–1991). Duffy returned to reprise his role as Bobby in a continuation of Dallas, which aired on TNT from 2012 to 2014. He is also well known for his role on the ABC sitcom Step by Step as Frank Lambert from 1991 to 1998, and for his role as Stephen Logan on the CBS daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (2006–2011, 2022, 2023). Duffy played the lead character's father in the 2014 NBC sitcom Welcome to Sweden.

Early life

Duffy was born in Townsend, Montana, in 1949, the son of tavern owners Terence and Marie Duffy. Duffy is of Irish ancestry. During high school, Duffy was living in Everett, Washington, and attended Cascade High School. At Cascade, he participated in the Drama Club and the Pep Club, for which he was a Yell King. Academically, Duffy graduated from the University of Washington in 1971 with a degree in drama. He ruptured both his vocal cords during his senior year of college, but was hired as actor-in-residence, where he worked as an interpreter for ballet, opera, and orchestra companies in Washington. He also taught mime and movement classes during this period. In a 2021 interview with David A. Weiner, Duffy credits his sister, an international champion diver, with teaching him the necessary swimming techniques for his first career break. She became a police officer in Seattle.

Career

Duffy appeared in a Taco Bell commercial in the early 1970s, playing an employee describing an Enchirito. In 1977, he landed the role of Mark Harris in the short-lived television series Man from Atlantis. Following the series' cancellation in early 1978, he got his big break in the role of Bobby Ewing, opposite Barbara Bel Geddes and Larry Hagman, on the prime-time soap opera Dallas. The show became a worldwide success. Despite its success, Duffy opted to leave the series in 1985 with his character being killed off onscreen. However, with both the show and his career on the decline, he returned in 1986 in the famous shower scene that rendered the entire 1985–1986 season "just a dream." Duffy then remained with the series until its cancellation in 1991. He also appeared in several episodes of the spin-off series Knots Landing between 1979 and 1982. Throughout the 13-year run of Dallas, Duffy directed several episodes of the series. Along with Dallas fame, Duffy has also tried his hand at singing, and in 1983, he had a hit in Europe with Together We're Strong, a duet with French female singer Mireille Mathieu. The single reached No. 5 in the Netherlands in April 1983. At the end of Dallas' run in 1991, Duffy began another television role, as Frank Lambert on the family sitcom, Step by Step in which he co-starred with Suzanne Somers. The series ran until 1998, and Duffy also directed numerous episodes. Also in the 1990s, he appeared in two Dallas reunion television films; J.R. Returns (1996) and War of the Ewings (1998), both of which he also co-produced. He has reunited on several occasions with many of his Dallas co-stars both onscreen and off, most notably for the non-fiction television special Dallas Reunion: Return to Southfork in 2004. Duffy later continued to act in occasional guest or voice acting appearances, including the series Family Guy (in which he appeared in a live action scene with Victoria Principal as they spoofed the Dallas shower scene), as well as Justice League and Touched by an Angel. Duffy starred in the television films Falling in Love With the Girl Next Door and Desolation Canyon. In 2006, he began a recurring role on the daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful as Stephen Logan. From April to July 2008, he hosted Bingo America, a partially interactive game show on GSN. Duffy reprised his role as Bobby Ewing in TNT's continuation series of Dallas. The series aired from 2012 to 2014. Duffy played a surreal double of Bobby Ewing in the experimental documentary Hotel Dallas, directed by artist duo Ungur & Huang. The film premiered at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival.

Personal life

Duffy married Carlyn Rosser, a professional ballerina 13 years his senior, in 1974. She danced with the First Chamber Dance Company of New York. Her nephew is former Major League Baseball pitcher Barry Zito. The Duffys lived near Eagle Point, Oregon, with their sons Padraic (b. 1974) and Conor (born c. 1980). Introduced to Buddhism by his wife, Duffy converted to Nichiren Buddhism and began chanting Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō. He and his family are longtime members of the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International. On November 18, 1986, Duffy's parents were murdered at their tavern in Boulder, Montana by two young men, Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz, during an armed robbery. Wentz and Miller, who were teenagers at the time, were convicted of the murders and sentenced to 75 years in prison. In 2001, Miller appeared before the Montana Parole board after Sean Wentz recanted his original story and admitted that he, Wentz, was the sole gunman. Miller was denied clemency in 2001 but was released on parole in December 2007. Sean Wentz was granted parole in 2015. Duffy's wife Carlyn Rosser died in 2017. In 2020, he entered into a relationship with actress Linda Purl.

Filmography