David Cassidy may be one of the top teen idols of all time, but his half-brother Shaun Cassidy was a major heartthrob too. While his older brother starred on The Partridge Family and had a career in pop music, Cassidy led The Hardy Boys Mysteries and a became pop star himself in the latter half of the '70s, with hits including "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Hey Deanie."
Though he got his start in music and acting, Cassidy, now 63, went in a very different direction with his career once he hit adulthood. In fact, the former teen idol might just be responsible for one of your favorite TV shows. Read on to learn about Cassidy today, including his family life and his work behind-the-scenes in television.
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He quit music in his early 20s.
Bruce Glikas/WireImage via Getty ImagesCassidy came to fame as part of a showbiz family. Not only was his half-brother David in entertainment, his mother is Oscar-winner Shirley Jones, and his father is Tony-winner Jack Cassidy.
"By the time I became successful at 18, three other people in my family had already been wildly successful,” Cassidy told Page Six in 2021. “My father was a matinee idol on Broadway, my mother was an Academy Award winner at 24 and David was a very big pop star. I kind of witnessed all of this, so by the time it happened to me, no part of my identity was invested in it lasting or ever being successful." By the time Cassidy was 22, he decided to put his music career behind him and try out something else.
He focused on the theater.
John Atashian/Getty ImagesFollowing his TV acting and pop star days, Cassidy became a stage actor. "I have a weird résumé. I just do," he told Yahoo! in 2020. "I had this incredibly big, explosive opening number in my early career. Then I literally stayed at home for the ‘80s, except for doing tiny little theaters, doing weird, like, Joyce Carol Oates plays for $100 a week."
But it wasn't only little plays. Cassidy and David starred in the musical Blood Brothers, about the different paths taken by twins separated at birth, on Broadway together. "I loved and adored him and he was as funny a guy as you’ll ever meet,” Cassidy told Page Six of David, who died in 2017. “We did a Broadway show called Blood Brothers together for a year and it was great working with him and very cathartic because we both felt connected to our dad.”
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He's a TV writer and producer.
John Lamparski/Getty ImagesWhile Cassidy was working in theater, he also wrote his first TV script, a show called American Gothic. The show was picked up for one season by CBS in 1995, which changed the course of Cassidy's career. He went on to produce and write for shows including Roar, Cold Case, The Agency, and Emerald City. He is currently an executive producer and writer for the medical series New Amsterdam.
"I look at old interviews and things and they say, 'What do you want to do when you grow up?' I say, 'I want to be a producer.' And I'm really fortunate that I was able to do it," Cassidy told Oprah.com in 2010.
He still performs, however.
lev radin / ShutterstockIn addition to working on New Amsterdam, Cassidy also tours a one-man show titled The Magic of a Midnight Sky.
"It’s a music and storytelling show,” he told Page Six. “I would say it’s a love story, it’s a survival story and it’s a story of reinvention. It’s funny, personal, sad, hopeful and, I believe, universal because my dirty little secret is the show is not just my story but everyone’s story.”
He's been married three times.
Cassidy has been married three times and has seven children. He married his first wife, model Ann Pennington, when he was 21 years old. They welcomed two children during their marriage, which lasted 1979 to 1993. Then, he was married to actor Susan Diol from 1995 to 2003, and they had one child together. Since 2004, Cassidy has been married to producer Tracey Lynne Turner, with whom he has four kids. "They are the realization of my dream," Cassidy told Oprah.com. "My family's my dream."
