David Cassidy Trivia: 20 facts about the late multi-talented actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

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 teen idols and pop singers of the 1970s. He later had a career in both acting and music. Check out some awesome facts about his life!

1. His full name was David Bruce Cassidy.

2. He was born on April 12, 1950.

3. He was born in New York City at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital.

4. He was the son of singer and actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward.

5. His father was of Irish and German descent while his mother was descendant of Colonial Americans of Irish and Swiss origin.

6. He mostly played the roles that were members in a rock band

7. He had an operation at age 11 on his left optical nerve which was wrapped around a blood vessel, sometimes resulting in a “lazy” eye when he’s over-tired, and had his gall bladder removed in 1972 after a concert in Wildwood, New Jersey.

8. He starred in the play “Time” in London with Laurence Olivier in 1987. It was Olivier’s final stage performance, although he was only seen via a previously filmed segment.

9. He ranked #1 in TV Guide’s list of “TV’s 25 Greatest Teen Idols” (23 January 2005 issue).

10. He was best known by the public for his role as Keith Partridge on The Partridge Family (1970).

11. On January 2, 1969, Cassidy made his professional debut in the Broadway musical The Fig Leaves Are Falling. It closed after four performances, but a casting director saw the show and asked Cassidy to make a screen test. In 1969, he moved to Los Angeles.

12. Cassidy’s first wife was actress Kay Lenz, whom he married on April 3, 1977, and divorced in the early 1980s.

13. At his peak, Cassidy was the world’s highest paid live entertainer, and his official fan club was the largest in pop history – exceeding Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

14. He was a close friend of John Lennon, whom he greatly admired.

15. He decided to quit The Partridge Family, after the fourth season, because he was growing tired of playing the role and wanted to move on to other projects.

16. He was a lifelong supporter of the US Democratic Party.

17. In 1986 he owed $800,000 and only had $1,000 to his name.

18. On February 20, 2017, Cassidy announced that he was living with dementia, the condition that his mother suffered from at the end of her life. He retired from performing in early 2017 when the condition became noticeable during a performance in which he forgot lyrics and otherwise struggled.

19. On November 18, 2017, it was announced that Cassidy had been hospitalized suffering from liver and kidney failure, and was critically ill in a medically-induced coma. He was out of the coma two days later, but remained in critical but stable condition, with doctors hoping to keep him stable until a liver became available for transplant.

20. Cassidy died on November 21, 2017, aged 67 as a result of complications from dementia and organ failure.