Patrick Duffy

Tall, generically handsome performer with slightly sleepy eyes and a sandpapery voice. After small roles in several TV movies (one of which, "Hurricane" 1974, toplined Duffy's future co-star Larry Hagman), Duffy gained attention in the title role of the short-lived fantasy series, "The Man from Atlantis". As a long-dormant survivor from that mythical underwater kingdom, Duffy's character had to stay submerged much of the time to stay alive, thus justifying the healthily built leading man's bikini wardrobe. Duffy participated in enjoyably bland environmental adventures each week, but ratings soon became waterlogged and the show sank without a trace.

Quickly drying himself off, Duffy next moved to "Dallas" where, as Bobby Ewing, he spent a dozen years purveying virtue opposite Hagman's villainous J.R. Duffy received less attention than his flashier co-star, but his earnest, underplayed style and JFK-style good looks helped the show keep its balance. Eager to expand his horizons, Duffy left "Dallas" in 1985, his character ostensibly killed off. After only one season, however, he expressed his desire to return to the show, which had been hard pressed to develop an equally effective foil for J.R. in Bobby's absence. While Bobby's abrupt appearance in his widow's shower made for a memorable season finale in mid-1986, the subsequent "explanation"--that the entire past season had been her nightmare--was hardly a triumph of TV scriptwriting. Duffy remained with the series until its honorable finale, directing several dozen episodes along the way, before moving on to "Step by Step", a revamp of "The Brady Bunch" co-starring Suzanne Somers, which aired on ABC from 1991 to 1997 and on CBS during the 1997-98 season.