Happy Days here again for Patrick
Dallas star Patrick Duffy tells ALISON BRINKWORTH about finding love in lockdown and taking the stage in Birmingham
DALLAS star Patrick Duffy has suffered his fair share of heartache, with the death of his wife of 43 years, Carlyn Rosser, to cancer in 2017 and the murder of his parents. But he’s heading to Birmingham in brighter times with his new partner. Romance sparked between the actor, who played Bobby Ewing in the hit TV drama, and Happy Days actress Linda Purl after they got chatting on Zoom during lockdown two years ago. There was an “attraction, pull and compatibility” that they couldn’t ignore despite the burgeoning romance being only online.
Renowned for having the most bizarre Dallas moment ever when he returned from the dead during a ‘bad dream’ shower scene, Patrick is soap opera royalty. While Purl is famous for playing Fonzie’s girlfriend Ashley in Happy Days and later Pam Beesly’s mother Helene in the US version of The Office. They are now starring alongside each other in a UK theatre tour of Catch Me If You Can. Talking about getting to know each other over Zoom, Patrick said: “That was a great hands-off getting to know each other. There was never a time during the four-plus months we were communicating that I ever had to think, ‘Gosh, it’s our third dinner. Do I kiss her and say goodnight?’ “None of that played into it. I didn’t even know what her hand felt like. But we got to know each other on such a deep level that when we did meet in person we’d covered all of that territory and we were ready for this relationship.’’ Apart from Linda, Patrick reveals
the only other thing he can’t live without is his own Buddhist altar, which is by his side, everywhere he goes.
“I’ve been a Buddhist for 50 years now and I practice every day so I carry a small altar with me,” he explains. “Wherever I am I set up my little Buddhist altar and I do my morning and evening prayers.”
Patrick has spoken in the past how Buddhism helped him cope when his parents, Terence and Marie, were killed by two drunken gunmen in their hometown of Boulder, Montana, in November 1986.
The tour of psychological thriller Catch Me If You Can brings him to Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre to
play unscrupulous Daniel Corban. “He’s one of the Mad Men,” says Patrick. “He’s from that era of advertising executives in the ‘60s, a womaniser, very good at what he does but at the expense of probably every relationship he’s ever been in. He’s Bobby Ewing with no morals.
“I never leave the stage for the entire play and it’s exhausting but in an interesting way. Physically I’m not as exhausted as I am mentally and vocally. So I have to marshal my forces and live like a monk for the duration of the run, but that’s OK because it all serves the play.”
Looking back at Dallas, when he played “the hero and the young leading man”, his fondest memories are still of his co-star and best friend Larry Hagman, who played dastardly JR Ewing.
“I worked with a person who on the first day of the read-through became the best friend I think I’ve ever had, namely Larry Hagman,” says Patrick. “Doing that show was 16 years of nothing but frivolity and fun.”
Catch Me If You Can is at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre from April 25 to 30.