When Danny Bonaduce was a star on The Partridge Family, he became friendly with Shirley Jones, the Oscar-winning actress who played his mom on the TV sitcom.
Off camera, Bonaduce would even spend time at Jones’ house when she was married to actor Jack Cassidy. Not only was Cassidy Jones’ husband, but he was also the real-life father of fellow Partridge Family star David Cassidy.
During a Sept. 2 appearance on The Scott Baio Podcast, Bonaduce, 67, recalled that it was “beautiful” to work with Jones, and that he would sometimes spend weekends at her house in Beverly Hills, hanging out with her son, Shaun Cassidy. He also noted that the Cassidy patriarch was “old Hollywood.”
“When you walk [into their house], first thing happens, you knock on the door in Beverly Hills, the door opens, and it’s Jack Cassidy,” Bonaduce recalled. “He would answer the door in a red velvet smoking jacket. With a martini and a cigarette in a holder.”
Years later, Bonaduce assumed he had an incorrect recollection of his entrance into the Jones/Cassidy house.
“I told the story and I said to Shirley, I said, you know, ‘That’s a child’s memory,’” Bonaduce shared. “She said, ‘No, that’s exactly how he would answer the door.’”
Bettmann / Getty Images
On the podcast, Bonaduce also noted that Jones’ Academy Award, for her role in the 1960 movie Elmer Gantry, was in full view on arrival at the Cassidy abode.
“When I go to her house, you open the door. Here’s Jack Cassidy. Over his shoulder is her Academy Award,” he said. “There’s no missing who lives there.”
Still, Bonaduce described Cassidy, a Tony Award-winning actor and singer, as a true star in his own right.
“He was a movie star all the time,” Bonaduce said. “I’ll tell you, so, I’m with Shaun and they’re putting in a pool, and they’re going to have it surrounded by big rocks. And [Cassidy], he says, ‘I’ll give you and Shaun 10 dollars to move those rocks from there to there.’ And we said, ‘Okay, 10 dollars.’ And Shaun and I spent the afternoon moving these, you know…big rocks from one spot to another. And we’re done, and Shaun and I go, ‘Where’s our money?’ And he goes, ‘I said to move them over there’ [points to the other direction] and didn’t pay us.”
RELATED: How Danny Bonaduce Found Out ‘The Partridge Family’ Was Canceled
Jones’ marriage to Cassidy ended in 1975, not long after The Partridge Family ended. The 49-year-old actor died tragically the following year in a fire in his West Hollywood apartment. Jones married comedian Marty Ingels in 1977.
Jones once told ABC News that her career success wasn’t easy for Cassidy to accept.
“I mean, he was my knight in shining armor, he was the love of my life,” she shared. “I was the breadwinner in the family, and it was very difficult for him.”
“Had Jack not died – he was 49 years old when he died in a fire – I don’t know if I would’ve married Marty,” Jones added. “I don’t know.”
Related: ‘Partridge Family’ Star Danny Bonaduce Gives Rare Update on Susan Dey and Shirley Jones
Leave a Reply