David Cassidy in the News
Retro : 'Flash' Forward
April 21, 1991
By Susan King
LA Times Staff Writer
From 1970 to 1974, baby-faced David Cassidy was the No. 1 idol of teeny-boppers around the coun try thanks to the hit ABC series "The Partridge Family."
Keith Partridge is alive and well and back on the small screen this week, guest-starring as an industrial saboteur named Samuel Scudder on CBS' action-fantasy "The Flash."
(Cassidy isn't the only "Partridge" alum still in the public's eye: Susan Dey, who played Keith's sister Laurie, is in her last season as Grace Van Owen on NBC's "L.A. Law." Danny Bonaduce, smart-mouthed Danny, is a disc jockey in Phoenix, where he was recently arrested on charges of beating up a transvestite.)
Cassidy, 41, won't call his "Flash" character evil. "There are no such things as bad guys," he said, laughing. "I would have to say that you would find him sort of smarmy. He's a very clever and cunning adversary for 'The Flash.' I was definitely not interested in playing him as a cartoon. People who see the show will find him despicable, but I found him thoroughly enjoyable and very charming and very charismatic."
"The Flash" is only Cassidy's second appearance on TV since starring in his own short-lived 1978 series on NBC, "David Cassidy--Man Undercover."
"I worked a lot in the theater in the 1980s (the musicals "Little Johnny Jones" on tour and "Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" on Broadway) and have done a couple of feature films recently, 'Spirit of '76' and 'Instant Karma,' " said the son of the late actor Jack Cassidy.
"I have stayed outside of television. But I really enjoy being back and working on 'The Flash.' I am looking forward to doing a lot more television."
Although he was the squeaky-clean Keith Partridge on "The Partridge Family," Cassidy began his TV career playing bad boys. "I played juvenile delinquents on 'Marcus Welby' and 'Medical Center.' I played a killer on 'Bonanza.' Of course, the one role I became very successful at was playing a really sweet boy-next-door guy that didn't have a lot of depth. People thought of me in that image and persona because the show had so much impact. It was very frustrating."
When the "Partridge Family" flew off the airwaves, Cassidy didn't do anything for the next 3 1/2 years. "I didn't know what I wanted to do any more. When you become that successful and have that kind of impact . . . it threw my entire career into a complete left-hand turn. What I needed to do was go back to the beginning, so I went back to class and that inspired me to go back to work in the theater."
Cassidy spent a good deal of the 1980s in England and recorded an album, "Romance," which went gold there. "My writing partner lived there," he said. "We started writing good songs together, so I stayed there. I also did a successful tour in England and in Europe."
He's now writing songs for a new album and hopes to play some club dates in the United States.
Cassidy said he is even looking to do another TV series--as long as it's not "The Partridge Family II."
"I stayed out of TV purposely, because I didn't want to do lousy shows and do bad roles and end up being an actor trying to rekindle what I once did," Cassidy said. "I want to do something different and I think the time is right for me."
"The Flash" airs Saturdays at 8 p.m.
