Patrick Duffy Says the "Dallas "Cast Would Start Every Morning with Champagne -- and End with Tequila Shots
Kate Hogan
December 18, 2024 at 5:43 PM
Though they brought the drama on TV, the cast of Dallas knew how to have fun when the cameras stopped rolling.
During his very first podcast interview, with his former Step by Step daughters Staci Keanan and Christine Lakin on their rewatch pod Keanan and Lakin Give You Déjà Vu, Patrick Duffy gave a wide-ranging interview looking back on his successful television career.
After addressing a host of Internet rumors his former costars dug up about him (no, he was never a professional athlete, yes, he ruptured his vocal cords decades ago and never recovered), Duffy talked through a timeline of his TV hits, which began with the late '70s sci-fi series Man from Atlantis.
Once that show -- which required the actor to perform challenging underwater stunts and learn how to dive -- was canceled, he was immediately offered a host of roles, including parts on Lassie and The Young Pioneers. But it was Dallas that stood out: "it was a five-episode miniseries pilot," the 75-year-old recalled. "It was a no-brainer."
Of course it lasted much longer, airing for 13 seasons, spawning several made-for-TV movies and coming back as a reboot from 2012 to 2014.
Related: The Original Cast of 'Dallas': Where Are They Now?
Duffy remembered that the day the original cast met for the first time, they gathered at Warner Bros. studios. "And then Haggy came in, Larry Hagman," Duffy shared. "He came in a full cowboy fringe leather outfit, big hat, leather saddlebags over his shoulder -- and in the saddlebags were bottles of champagne. So we sat down and drank champagne before we ever started reading the pilots of Dallas, to get to know each other," he continued. "That was the the beginning of the relationship. But I remember being introduced to everybody, and and I shook Hagman's hand. And I went home that day after the whole process and I told my wife, I said, 'I think I met my best friend today.' "
Duffy said the two remained "best friends from that moment on, till the day he died." (Hagman died in 2012 at the age of 81.)
But as for the champagne, "when we started working, every morning that we would be working together on the set, we'd get a call time, usually, you know, 7, 6 o'clock call time. I would pull into MGM. We'd park the cars. We'd go to Hagman's room. We'd open a bottle of champagne. We'd have a glass of champagne every morning to start the day."
Though Duffy would "lay out" until lunch, "Haggy," he said, "would continue. And in the course of the day, he'd get through three or four bottles of champagne. Work. And then, you know, they'd break for lunch and so we'd go across the street, instead of the commissary, because they don't serve alcohol in the commissary. We went to the Backstage Tavern ... and we'd have a couple of drinks and a hamburger, and then come back and and do the second half of the day."
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The actor said that as the years went on the cast could "judge when the show [was] about to wrap for the day." So then, they knew it "was the right time -- we would catch the prop guy's eye and would just do this," he said, seemingly indicating a nod. "That was all, and then magically, a styrofoam cup would appear."
When asked by Keanan if that meant more champagne, Duffy said, "Oh no. We'd have a little shot of tequila before we wrapped because we knew it wouldn't kick in till they called wrap. And then, that was it. That was my work day with Hagman for 13 years. That was the '80s."
Related: Step by Step Cast Reunites at 90s Con and Remembers Suzanne Somers 5 Months After Her Death
Elsewhere in the interview, Duffy told the story of meeting his wife of 46 years, the late ballerina Carlyn Rosser, and recounted his first minutes with Suzanne Somers, when they were both cast in the '90s sitcom Step by Step on the spot.
"She referred to me as her second husband, and I referred to her as my second wife," Duffy said of the late star. "And that was from day one. And Alan [Hamel, Somers' husband] was cool with it, so was Carlyn. It was a special relationship, you know. It was brilliant. And then after the show was canceled, it didn't change. We didn't see each other as often, but whenever we did, it was right back to day one."
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