During the early breaks of his career, while Patrick Duffy was still starring in “Dallas”, he was wracked by unspeakable tragedy.
Both of his parents, Terrence and Marie Duffy, were murdered in their own bar, by two teenage assailants. His parents were running a bar in Montana, when they kicked out the young men. They later drove to a car dealership and held-up the janitors for a vehicles, and returned to take the lives of both Duffys.
The men, Kenneth Miller and Sean Wentz, were both later sentenced. Miller was given 180 years. Wentz has been out on parole, since 2007.
“My father kicked these two young men out of the bar at some point in the evening,” Duffy told Closer Weekly. “So they went and drank elsewhere… and came back to the bar to kick his a–. When they stepped in the bar with their guns, they shot him. There was nobody else in the bar, so they shot both my mother and my father.”
Despite this awful incident, Duffy’s strong faith pulled him through. “There was something about the eternity of life that had set deep inside me,” he told People. “As horrific as that was, I didn’t feel disconnected from them. Many people have come up to me and said, ‘When I lost my mom or dad, I remember how you said you never really felt like you lost them. I thought, as long as I can make something out of it, I’ll be okay.”
At the time of his parents’ passing, Duffy was a father to two young boys, Padraic and Conor. Both of Duffy’s sons are now grown, with families of their own.
“I have done and I still am doing OK,” Duffy said. “I have worked hard to make the best of life, and it’s been good to me.”
Sources:
Patrick Duffy Remembers the 1986 Murder of Both His Parents (closerweekly.com)
Patrick Duffy’s Parents Were Killed at Their Bar in 1986 (distractify.com)
Dallas Star Patrick Duffy Opens Up About His Parents’ 1986 Murders (people.com)
