TLDR: Dallas star Patrick Duffy spent years grieving his wife of more than four decades before reconnecting with Happy Days actress Linda Purl during the pandemic.
Their relationship turned into a real partnership, complete with a charity sourdough bread company built on a family recipe that has survived since 1952.
Patrick Duffy never expected to fall in love again.
He had spent more than four decades married to ballet dancer Carlyn Rosser before losing her to cancer in 2017, and by his own account, he spent the years after focused entirely on his family rather than dating.
Then 2020 happened, and an old friendship with Happy Days star Linda Purl turned into something nobody saw coming, least of all the two of them.
For more on the rest of the cast Duffy spent nine seasons with, the full Dallas cast breakdown covers where everyone else ended up.
A Reconnection That Started With a Favor
Duffy and Purl had known each other for decades, by some accounts as far back as 1980, but had only crossed paths occasionally over the years.
Their actual reconnection in early 2020 came through an unlikely source, Richard Thomas, best known for playing John-Boy on The Waltons.
Duffy had done a stage play in London with Thomas and lost touch with him afterward. When he ran into Purl, who happened to live near Thomas in New York at the time, he asked her to pass along his contact information.
What started as a small favor turned into the three of them chatting, and then, once the pandemic hit and Purl left New York, into just Duffy and Purl texting and video calling every night for months.
He Drove Across the Country Just to Find Out If It Was Real
After months of nightly calls, Duffy decided he needed to know in person whether what they had was real. He has said he loaded up his car and drove roughly 20 hours, arriving unannounced on Purl’s doorstep.
They haven’t been apart since. The two have described the early days of their reunion in strikingly similar terms, both noting that the slower, quieter pace of the pandemic gave them time to talk and connect in a way that simply wouldn’t have happened under normal circumstances.
A Family Sourdough Recipe Became a Real Business
Their relationship’s most unexpected chapter started in the kitchen. Duffy’s family has kept a sourdough starter alive since 1952, when his mother received it from an older woman in Alaska, who claimed it was already more than 50 years old at the time.
The Duffy family used it for dinner rolls and pancakes for generations, with Duffy taking his own portion of the starter with him after college and keeping it active ever since.
Early in their relationship, Duffy made Purl sourdough pancakes using that decades-old starter, and she was hooked. That shared love of cooking together eventually grew into Duffy’s Dough, a real sourdough bread company the couple launched together, donating 100 percent of its profits to organizations fighting food insecurity.
The business started small, with the couple greeting fans in person at a Colorado Springs grocery store to launch the product and presenting a local food bank with a $5,000 check.
It has since grown well beyond that one store, with Duffy’s Dough now sold in Kroger locations across Ohio and Texas, along with Ralph’s stores as well.
Linda Purl Was Already a Familiar Face Before Dallas Fans Knew Her
Purl’s own career has spanned decades, most notably with two different roles on Happy Days, first as Richie’s girlfriend Gloria, and later as Fonzie’s love interest Ashley Pfister.
She went on to appear in Matlock and spent time on The Office as one of Steve Carell’s love interests, along with dozens of television movies over a career most actors would envy.
Both Duffy and Purl have continued working well into their seventies rather than fully stepping back. The two even appeared together in the 2025 action thriller Hollywood Grit, walking a red carpet premiere together in Los Angeles as both a couple and costars.
Duffy has described their relationship in unusually direct terms for a public figure, calling it an “I love you” kind of partnership where he still sends flowers to her dressing room when she’s working and he isn’t there.
Nearly five years after a pandemic phone chain unexpectedly turned into something real, the two are still happily proving that a second chance at love in your seventies can be just as sweet as the first one, and apparently just as good with a side of sourdough.
How did Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl get together?
Duffy and Purl had been acquaintances for decades. They reconnected in early 2020 after Duffy asked Purl to pass along his contact information to a mutual friend, and the resulting group text turned into nightly calls between the two of them once the pandemic began.
What is Duffy’s Dough?
Duffy’s Dough is a sourdough bread company started by Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl, built on a Duffy family sourdough starter that has been kept alive since 1952. The company donates 100 percent of its profits to organizations fighting food insecurity.
What show was Linda Purl on besides Happy Days?
Linda Purl has also appeared on Matlock and The Office, along with more than 45 television movies over her career.
Is Patrick Duffy still married?
No. Duffy was married to ballet dancer Carlyn Rosser for more than four decades until her death from cancer in 2017. He has been in a relationship with Linda Purl since 2020 and the two have not married.
