David Cassidy, the pop superstar who could not cope with fame, is back – on the West End stage, in Time. Caroline Phillips spoke to him

It is unnerving when one’s erstwhile teeny-bopper poster materializes and picks up a cup of coffee. But that is what happened when I met David Cassidy: former pop idol, former teenage Super Puppy, former superstar. He points out the difficulties of being lumbered with being a former Something. ‘Why don’t you just say: ‘David Cassidy, actor, comedian, man in search of his own identity?”

Cassidy is 36, going on 28. Still very small, he wears black jeans, a roll-neck sweater and his hair is dyed blond. Jet-lagged, having just flown in from America, he’s tried and tense. But he is still polite, with a ready sense of humour. He also seems neurotic and fragile. Early on, he asks ‘Am I being boring? Am I too guarded?’

Cassidy is in London to make his West End stage debut on April 13 as the Rock Star in Dave Clark’s musical, Time. In it, a bunch of singing humanoids are summoned up to the High Court of the Universe to defend and save Earth, which appears set on course for destruction. The only wit is supplied in the form of a massive hologram of Sir Laurence Oliver’s head. ‘I always wanted to work with Oliver’s head,’ says Cassidy. ‘At least I can tell my kids, if I ever have them, that I worked with part of Oliver. The best part, I might add. ‘

He will take over from the timeless Cliff Richard, the nation’s sweetheart, for a three-month run. ‘Cliff is an institution here. There’s a kinda ‘hands-off Cliff’ feeling. ‘ Why did he decide to take the part? ‘Because they offered me a lot of money. ‘

Cassidy immediately wrestles with his leg, attempting to put his foot in his mouth. Why does he say these things, he wonders? His real motive is that he considers the show a great challenge. ‘I want to be though of as an actor here – because I am. ‘ He has spent the past five years in theatre, both regional and Broadway.

From an acting family – his father was the late Jack Cassidy, his mother Evelyn Ward appeared in the Broadway production of South Pacific – Cassidy was, self-professedly, on the way to becoming a well-respected actor in the 1960s. Then came 1970 and The Partridge Family. He was cast, aged 19, as the 16-year-old dewyeyed son of a suburban family who had their own rock’n’roll band. His vulnerable look and pleasant light voice appealed to early teens.

The marketing men used David Cassidy to sell lunchboxes, bubble gum and toothpaste. He became the face on the back of cornflakes packets and one of the most screamed-at stars since Elvis. His earnings were conservatively estimated at pounds 100,000 a year.

He recalls: ‘I used to work seven days a week. From 7am-7pm shooting, then from 7.30pm to midnight recording. At weekends, I’d do concerts. ‘

At the height of his career a fan magazine alleged that super-clean Cassidy was a drug user: ‘They printed that about everybody, I’m not unique. Let’s clarify the issue: I do not, have not, don’t advocate them. ‘

He soon had wall-to-wall gold discs and kerb-to-kerb girls wherever he stayed. He can’t remember, but he thinks he has about 25 gold discs (‘I keep them in a box in the closet’). His first hit with The Partridge Family, ‘I Think I Love You’, sold more than five million copies. In his time, he has sold more than 30 million records. He was kissed goodnight, glossy lips on glossy prints, by as many girls. When Cassidy went out, it was under a blanket.

The boy who had been raised by his mother and grandparents in a small town in New Jersey, and went to church every week, lost his identity. ‘I had become something larger than life that I had not wanted or intended. I felt really lost. ‘

He became paranoid and a recluse, hiding from the hysteria. ‘I could not handle the way people dealt with me. People saw me in the street and couldn’t believe it; they wanted to touch and be close to that kind of success. ‘

He was no longer looked upon as a singer and actor who wanted to have ‘real honest’ relationships with people. ‘You talked to people and they didn’t see you: they saw the stuff around you – the magazine covers, all the screaming and the craziness, the television shows. ‘

He felt isolated. ‘Everyone wanted something from me – no sour grapes – but I was finding it hard to keep my sanity. I associated with the one or two people I felt comfortable with, or I stayed alone. ‘

He was, he admits, en route for ‘one helluva’ breakdown. ‘I didn’t know who I was any more, or how I got like that. But I believe the values that were instilled in me by my family saved my life when I was really lost. ‘

In 1975, Cassidy ‘retired’, at the age of 24. He bred thoroughbreds on his farm in Santa Barbara, near Los Angeles, avoided music, saw a therapist and married and divorced actress Kay Lenz. ‘It’s been kind of a metamorphosis,’ he explains.

He maintains he is now more happy emotionally; he has been married to the steeplechaser Meryl Tanz for three years. ‘I’m still pretty much of a longer. My wife lives on the farm and I spend a lot of time alone in LA. I’ve set a course towards simplifying my life. I no longer do things I don’t want to do or don’t need. I’m too old and bored with doing things that don’t make me happy. ‘

He runs five times a week and visits a gym. ‘It’s good for me mentally. I don’t do it because I’m trying to become Sylvester Stallone; it’s important at this time of my life to try and maintain whatever is left of it. ‘

Cassidy says he didn’t know what he was going to do with his life, until four years ago, when he made his comeback in the Broadway production of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In 1985, he returned to the top 10 with ‘The Last Kiss’. ‘That’s the only gold disc I keep out,’ he says.

‘It has taken me 15 years to come to what I really want to do,’ he says – be a respected working actor. He is working on the co-production of a film with one of his three half-brothers. ‘I want to be able to work and do all sorts of different things – maybe even join a rep company. I don’t just work for money, I don’t go where they pay me the most. ‘

In order to take up the role in Time he turned down the chance to appear in a play at the minimum Equity rate, but says he will chase that dream when he returns to the US. ‘If you ask me who I’d most like to be ..well, I’d really most like to be myself, and after that Jimmy Stewart. He’s the best American actor, both in serious and comic drama. ‘ Perhaps Cassidy keeps a poster of Stewart on his wall.