Patrick Duffy is emotionally attached to his wife, even though she passed away nearly six years ago.
Patrick Duffy is best known as Bobby Ewing in the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas. You may have seen him in Man From Atlantis, Too Good To Be True, or Christmas With A View.
Yet beyond that elegant appearance is a man mourning the death of his wife, Carlyn Rosser, who died in 2017. Even though she is no longer with him, he still considers himself “married.”
Their romance began when the now-73-year-old actor was a recent college graduate. “I was a young college graduate touring as a narrator with this ballet show, and she was a beautiful dancer ten years my senior,” he told Fox News.
“We met on the tour bus, and that was the end of it — for life.” He knew she was “the one” when he looked her in the eyes. The two then married in 1974, ready to embark on the rest of their lives together. When their sons Padraic and Conor were born, their little family of two had grown to four.
For 43 years, the pair were united by their passion for art. “My wife had exquisite pitch; she could play concert piano; she was a ballerina; she lived an artistic life. And I was lured into it from a restricted artistic standpoint,” he told Town and Country Mag.
“It was not the start of my education; that was probably my Ph.D., which affected my life when I met her at 22.” She was a significant influence on his life, he acknowledges, even exposing him to Buddhism to help him heal from the trauma of his parents’ horrific murder.
Due to his success in the program Dallas, he was able to broaden their shared interests. “Dallas presented an incredible opportunity.”
“It allowed us to focus on what we wanted to achieve most, so this is the house Dallas built, and the gallery is filled with art Dallas purchased,” he explained. With so much love in his heart and such a strong bond with his wife, he and their family were devastated when she died in 2017.
“It was a shocker when Mom died,” he told the New York Daily News. “There was no warning. That was the major change. My boys served as stalwarts.”
“But I also recognized that, as much as they tried to prop up old dad, I’m probably more accustomed to this set of circumstances than they are. When you reach a certain age, you understand that the road ahead is far shorter than behind.”
“I can hear her now, after almost five years,” she says. “I saw her,” the actor revealed to Closer Weekly. “I know what she expects of me, and I strive to live up to it. I’m always close to her, yet what I miss the most is her touch. I still regard myself as a married man.”
Recognizing that he must go on, he told Fox News that he would cherish all his memories of his lover. “In life, there are no mistakes,” he said. “I can mend every fence I’ve broken and generate value out of everything I’ve done if given enough time. I did it, and I’m still doing fine. I’ve worked hard to improve my situation, and life has been kind to me.”
