David Cassidy

AP

David Cassidy

Performer
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David Cassidy

Performer

April 12

Manhattan, New York City, New York

November 21, 2017

David Cassidy was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

He was known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother Shirley Jones), in the 1970s musical-sitcom The Partridge Family, which led to his becoming one of popular culture's most successful teen idols and pop singers of the 1970s.

The Partridge Family series creator Bernard Slade and producers Paul Junger Witt and Bob Claver did not care whether Cassidy could sing, knowing only that his androgynous good looks would guarantee success. Shortly after production began, though, Cassidy convinced music producer Wes Farrell that he was good enough, and he was promoted to lead singer for the series' recordings.

He continued to work in television after The Partridge Family ended, performing in theater productions and briefly landing his own show, David Cassidy: Man Undercover, which lasted a season.

Cassidy fared better in Las Vegas. He starred as the leading man of MGM Grand's "EFX" in 1996 and developed a show titled "At the Copa," which he co-starred in with Sheena Easton in 2000.

Cassidy released his autobiography, Could It Be Forever? My Story, in 2007, writing about the pitfalls of fame and his failed first two marriages.

In 2017, Cassidy revealed that he was in the early stages of dementia, the same disease his mother and grandfather suffered from. He died on November 21, 2017.

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