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John Joseph Edward “Jack” Cassidy (March 5, 1927 – December 12, 1976) was an American actor of stage, film and screen. His frequent professional persona was that of an urbane, super-confident egotist with a dramatic flair, much in the manner of Broadway actor Frank Fay. Cassidy perfected this character to such an extent that he was cast as the legendary John Barrymore in the feature film W.C. Fields and Me. The role of the vain, shallow, buffoon-like newsman Ted Baxter on TV`s The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) was written with Cassidy in mind.[1] However, Cassidy turned down the role, feeling that it was not right for him, and the part went to Ted Knight. Cassidy later appeared as a guest star in a 1971 episode as Ted`s highly competitive and equally egocentric brother, Hal.
Cassidy was married twice. His first wife was actress Evelyn Ward, who is the mother of his actor and singer son David Cassidy. After divorcing in 1956, he married actress Shirley Jones. They had three sons, Shaun, Patrick, and Ryan, and divorced in 1974. In his 1994 autobiography, C`Mon, Get Happy, David wrote that he became increasingly concerned about his father in the last years of his life. He suffered from alcoholism and displayed increasingly erratic behavior. In 1974, his neighbors were shocked to see him naked watering his front lawn in the middle of the afternoon. Shirley Jones described a similar incident when she found him sitting in a corner, totally naked, reading a book. Jones said to Cassidy that they had to get ready to do a show, and he calmly looked up and said "I know now that I`m Christ". In December 1974, he was psychiatrically hospitalized for 48 hours. At that time, Jones found out that he had been previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In 1976, Cassidy was living alone in an apartment in West Hollywood, California. Some time in the early morning hours of December 12, 1976, he lit a cigarette and fell asleep or passed out on a couch, which then caught fire and spread throughout the apartment. His body was found on the floor, as if he had been trying to crawl to the sliding glass doors but was overcome by smoke inhalation. In an odd coincidence, he had starred in a 1971 episode of the TV series Night Gallery, called The Last Laurel, in which he played a character who accidentally killed himself while sleeping. David Cassidy wrote about his father`s bisexuality in his autobiography, a fact he discovered only after his father`s death.
Biography Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Cassidy
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I don`t agree with the premise that there are unmet medical needs.
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