Shaun Cassidy Says Father, Jack Cassidy, Had a ‘Phony’ Public Persona (Exclusive)

Jack Cassidy was a well-known talent in the ‘60s, but even those closest to the Tony winner say they never knew who he really was. 

Shaun Cassidy exclusively tells PEOPLE that his father was a bit of a “phony,” at least publicly.

“My dad was so complicated,” the former teen idol, 66, says. “He basically invented this public persona with an accent that didn’t exist in any country ever.”

Born in New York City, Jack hailed from a family of engineers, and it was all but assumed he’d follow in the footsteps of his railroad family, that is, until he fell in love with the entertainment world after seeing the bright lights of Broadway at the ripe age of 14.

As his star rose, the He & She actor began appearing on talk shows and speaking in his borderline-British accent, leaving Shaun and his younger siblings — Patrick, 63, and Ryan, 59 — baffled by their dad’s phonetics, which they hadn’t heard around the house.

“Patrick and Ryan and I would be like, ‘What is up with this dude?’ ” Shaun recalls. “I mean, it seemed so phony to us, and that wasn’t like who he was. I’m not sure he ever really figured out who he was.”

Jack died in an apartment fire in 1976. He was 49.

“He was not a good father — and I don’t say that with disrespect. I just say it with objectivity,” Shaun adds. “And yet I wouldn’t have traded him for the world. I got so many gifts from him, so many.”

Still, the W. C. Fields and Me star wasn’t exactly the most present dad when his son was coming of age.

“I didn’t get the dad who went to my Little League games or took me on camping trips or any of that stuff. My mom did,” Shaun says of his mother, Oscar-winning actress Shirley Jones. “My mom showed up for a lot of that stuff, but she was also gone a lot. She was making movies around the world. I think one of the reasons she took The Partridge Family job is because she wanted to be close to home.”

Jack and Shirley, who married in 1956 and divorced in 1975, weren’t who many perceived them to be, their son says.

“Who they really are is not how they’re perceived by the public anyway. The public has an idea of who they are,” Shaun tells PEOPLE. “If you grow up in a family of show folk, everything is very presentational.”

“I talked to my brothers about this the other day. I had very, very few photographs of our family just sitting around the living room. Almost all the pictures I have were taken by professional photographers, often for magazines.”

It didn’t take long for Shaun to realize his parents were very concerned about their public perception, but he also liked that people fawned over his mom and dad.

“Going out in public with them as a little kid, everyone was in love with my mother, and everybody was sort of dazzled by my father,” he reflects. “I remember being proud of that, feeling like, ‘Oh, isn’t that cool?'”

“I remember thinking my mother’s really beautiful, and I didn’t know how beautiful she was. I was just a little kid. Now I see her, though, in context. She is still. She’s 91 years old and she looks younger than us.”

In many ways, Shaun raised himself while his parents were off working. Growing up in Los Angeles, he often confided in the children of other actors who faced similar challenges. 

“I have a whole friend group, kids, we were like Peanuts,” he says, referring to the famed cartoon. “The parents weren’t around. And yet all of us had similar backgrounds. I mean, Carrie Fisher was two doors down, and she was a good pal of mine. We all got through it with challenges, for sure. We not only survived but thrived, and I think we looked after each other.”

A teen idol growing up, the “Da Doo Ron Ron” singer retreated from the spotlight in the ‘90s and soon began a career as a writer, producer and creator of TV shows.

However, the stage is calling him again. Shaun kicked off his 50-city The Road to Us tour at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry on Sept. 13. It will mark the “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll” singer’s first full arena tour since 1980 and his longest tour ever.