Photo: Ryan Cassidy
As the youngest son ofThe Partridge Family’s matriarchShirley Jonesand Tony-award-winning actor Jack Cassidy and brother of teen heartthrobDavid Cassidy, Ryan, 57, had an extraordinary childhood growing up in Hollywood. However, one of the standout moments in the now-author’s life was one afternoon he spent with the iconic actor James Cagney, who died in 1986.
“I’m very fortunate to have had a wonderful career in show business and to have worked with some brilliant actors,” Jones wrote in the foreword. “Among the many movies and television shows I was privileged to do, the opportunity to work with the legendary James Cagney was a very special moment for me.”
Goodknight Books
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Ryan shares more about why he felt this was an important story to tell now, 50 years later.
“I would meet a lot of people that would come up to me through the years and say, ‘I grew up watching your brother. I grew up watching your mother, and you must have really met a lot of interesting people in your life,'” Ryan tells PEOPLE. “And I have met a lot of interesting people, a lot of fun people, a lot of incredibly talented people, and they’ve often said, you ought to write a book about it.”
The person that stood to him the most, though, was Cagney. The day he stayed with the actor, Ryan was 7 years old and a quiet boy with an avid imagination.
Cagney fostered Ryan’s curiosity and even drew him a signed picture of a dancing elf — which hangs in the author’s living room to this day.
“I think the fact that he was this bigger-than-life movie star that had already sort of done his work, and he was semi-retired at this point, and he saw my mother and father were going through a separation, and I think he felt a need to see where I was at with everything,” Ryan says.
He adds, “He made me feel really comfortable, and he made me feel like I could express myself in a way and tell him what my interests were. He didn’t make it about him that day.”
Ryan Cassidy
Growing up in Hollywood in the 1970s, Ryan was no stranger to actors. He shares how his peers at school would always tell him how much they loved his mom and brothers, and he was “so proud” to hear it.
“I would say I’m proud of my family,” Ryan says. “I’m my own person, and I am where I’m at in life because I have learned through whatever I went through to get to where I’m at. And I’m proud of who I am, but I’m not my family. I’m my own person.”
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Raised in a creative family, Ryan had no shortage of mentors to inspire him, including Cagney, with whom he continued to cross paths as he got older. He hopes this book will inspire children to seek the same mentorship and those who influence them in a positive way.
“Young people can create a parallel to somebody that they grew up with or knew or met, and they can realize that we all can have these experiences at different times and decades in our life,” Ryan says.
Ryan stresses that while the book is aimed for a young audience, people of all ages can take something away from the story. While children can be inspired, fans of older cinema can reminisce on Cagney and Jones and their work.
In all he does, Ryan says, he aims to spread positivity and a sweet message. This book is just the latest addition to Ryan’s work spreading love, inspiration and hope.
“I try to live with giving back a positive message in every aspect of my life,” Ryan says. “And I’m at a point in my life where I have enough understanding and wisdom to be able to give to somebody else that I hope that they can carry with them, and it betters their life in some way and gives them a different perspective that they didn’t have.”
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source: people.com
