Patrick Duffy’s world collapsed when his wife, with whom he had lived for more than forty years, unexpectedly died in 2017. For many years, the actor thought that he would never recover from grief. And yet, in his seventies, he found love again when he least expected it.
For decades, Patrick Duffy and his wife have shared a love story that has become the highlight of his life. After being married for 43 years, they created a family and a deep spiritual bond that shaped him. When she died, he took the loss hard and lived as a widower for many years.
But an unexpected reunion led Duffy to discover that love can be reborn in the most unexpected circumstances. Take a look at his love story with his first wife and how he found happiness again years after her death.
Duffy’s life changed forever when he met his wife, Carlene Rosser, in his senior year of college. Rosser, a ballet dancer with the First Chamber Dance Company in New York, was ten years older than Duffy. However, the age difference did not interfere with their relationship, which lasted 43 years.
Talking about their first meeting, Duffy recalled: “I was an immature college graduate touring as an announcer in this dance production, and she was a great ballerina 10 years older. We met on the tour bus, and it was for life.”
The couple married in 1974 at a Buddhist temple, and Vera Rosser, whom she introduced to Duffy, became the cornerstone of their relationship. In the same year, their first son, Padraic, was born.
Early in their marriage, the couple moved to New York City, where Duffy took up acting, appearing in Broadway productions and working as a carpenter to feed Rosser and their growing family.
His acting career began to develop rapidly in the late 1970s. After working as a house painter, he got the role of Mark Harris in the television series The Man from Atlantis. In 1978, he got his most iconic role as Bobby Ewing in the TV series Dallas.