Who was Shaun Cassidy’s father, Jack Cassidy? Actor says late dad was not a good father

During a recent interview with PEOPLE, American singer, writer, actor, and producer Shaun Cassidy spoke candidly about his parents, Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. While his mother was an Oscar-winning actress and singer, his father was a Grammy- and Tony-winning actor, singer, and theater director.

Speaking about his late dad, Shaun Cassidy, 66, claimed Jack was a “phony” and a “complicated” person, who “basically invented this public persona with an accent that didn’t exist in any country ever.”

The Invasion maker claimed that Jack’s British accent in talk shows often puzzled him and his brothers, Patrick, 63, and Ryan, 59.

“Patrick and Ryan and I would be like, ‘What is up with this dude?’ I mean, it seemed so phony to us, and that wasn’t like who he was. I’m not sure he ever really figured out who he was,” Shaun said of his father.

He continued by claiming that Jack Cassidy was “not a good father.” Shaun Cassidy explained that he wasn’t saying that “with disrespect” but rather “with objectivity.”

“I didn’t get the dad who went to my Little League games or took me on camping trips or any of that stuff. My mom did. My mom showed up for a lot of that stuff, but she was also gone a lot. She was making movies around the world…” Shaun Cassidy added.

However, he acknowledged that despite his late dad’s shortcomings, he wouldn’t have traded him for the world and received “many gifts from him” over the years.

Notably, Jack Cassidy passed away in an apartment fire in West Hollywood in 1976, aged 49, according to the New York Post.

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All you need to know about Shaun Cassidy’s father, Jack Cassidy

According to TV Insider, late actor, singer, and theater director Jack Cassidy was born on March 5, 1927, in Richmond Hill, New York. His parents, William and Charlotte Cassidy, were immigrants from Ireland and Germany, respectively.

He was popular on both television and the stage, including Broadway from the late 1940s to the early 1950s. Cassidy Sr. made his Broadway debut as a teenager in 1943 by appearing in the chorus of Cole Porter’s musical Something for the Boys.

However, he is best known for his portrayal on the CBS drama He & She between 1967 and 1968, for which he won an Emmy. Jack also won an Emmy for his PBS show The Andersonville Trial in 1971.

His notable stage productions include Sandhog, Oklahoma!, and The Beggar’s Opera. Jack also won the Tony Award for his 1953 musical Wish You Were Here. Cassidy earned back-to-back Tony nods for his plays She Loves Me (1963), Fade Out – Fade In (1964), It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman (1966), and Maggie Flynn (1969).

His movie projects include Bunny O’Hare in 1971, The Eiger Sanction in 1975, and W.C. Fields and Me in 1976. Jack also appeared in the 1974 CBS show The Phantom of Hollywood and the NBC series Columbo in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Jack Cassidy’s first wife, Evelyn Ward, was a dancer and choreographer. They were married from 1948 to 1956. The couple’s only child, son David Cassidy, later went on to become a pop icon and actor. David died from organ failure and alcohol abuse in November 2017, aged 67.

Later, he remarried actress-singer Shirley Jones, 91, in 1957, and they were together until she filed for divorce in 1974. They welcomed three sons: Shaun Cassidy, Patrick Cassidy, and Ryan Cassidy. All three are part of the entertainment field.

Before his death, Jack Cassidy’s career and personal life hit obstacles due to his alcoholism and bipolar disorder. In 1976, he died on the top floor of his penthouse in West Hollywood, California. Investigation revealed that after a night of partying, he returned home, fell asleep on the couch with a lit cigarette, and caused the fire.

In 2005, a star in memory of Jack Cassidy was posthumously approved to be included on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the time, his son Ryan was raising funds for the same.

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In the recent exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Shaun Cassidy claimed that his parents were not how they were “perceived by the public.”

“The public has an idea of who they are. If you grow up in a family of show folk, everything is very presentational,” he continued.

Shaun Cassidy added that he and his brothers had very few photographs of Jack and Shirley “just sitting around the living room,” and most of them were “taken by professional photographers, often for magazines.”

The American Gothic maker recalled that his memory of accompanying his parents in public as a kid was how “everyone was in love with my mother, and everybody was sort of dazzled by my father.” At the time, he would feel “proud” of it and thought it was “cool.”

Shaun Cassidy recently kicked off his 50-city arena tour called The Road to Us at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s his first tour since 1980 and the longest one ever.