The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Stars Now & Then
For mystery lovers, there was nothing that could compare to The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. The television shows, based on The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew novels, ran from 1977 until 1979. In the first season, it alternated between episodes featuring the Hardy Boys (played by Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy) and Nancy Drew (played by Pamela Sue Martin and later Janet Louise Johnson). Eventually, the storylines crossed and later Nancy Drew was removed from the series. Let’s find out what happened to those boys and girls who knew how to piece things together and find out what truly happened!
Parker Stevenson (72)
Frank Hardy
Everett Collection; Presley Ann/Getty Images
When he was young, Richard Stevenson Parker Jr. wanted to become an architect. But he ultimately followed in the footsteps of his mother and went into acting, with his earliest significant roles coming on the big screen under his soon-to-be-familiar professional name of Parker Stevenson. He made his feature film debut in the 1972 drama A Separate Peace and later appeared alongside Sam Elliott in the 1976 drama Lifeguard. While Stevenson did appear in other theatrical movies over the ensuing decades, he is most remembered from his television work, especially the series that made him famous: ABC’s The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, which ran from 1977-79 and featured Stevenson as Frank Hardy alongside teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy as Joe Hardy.
Warner Bros./ Courtesy: Everett Collection.
Stevenson also notably appeared in the 1986 Civil War miniseries North and South: Book II, which featured the actor’s then-wife, Kirstie Alley (their marriage lasted from 1983-97, and they adopted a son in 1992 and a daughter in 1995; Stevenson has been married to celebrity chef Lisa Schoen since 2018). He later returned to the world of fictional lifeguards when he played Craig Pomeroy as part of the original cast of Baywatch in 1989-90; he returned in a recurring role as the character from 1997-99. One of the star’s most recent appearances was in the main cast of Netflix’s tween drama series Greenhouse Academy from 2017-20. An avid photographer since he was young, the now 72-year-old Stevenson’s work can be seen at parkerstevensonshadowworks.com.
Shaun Cassidy (65)
Joe Hardy
Everett Collection; Presley Ann/Getty Images for TCM
It’s no wonder that Shaun Cassidy was a familiar presence on the cover of Tiger Beat during the late 1970s. Not just a pretty face, Cassidy was among the most multitalented teen idols of that or any decade, talents that he has carried over through the ensuing years. First achieving fame as a singer, Cassidy released five studio albums between his self-titled debut in June 1977 and Wasp in September 1980, right around his 22nd birthday. The first three of those albums went platinum in the U.S. and spawned a couple of hit singles. Around this time, Cassidy was also seen regularly on television, costarring with Parker Stevenson in ABC’s The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries from 1977-79. While Cassidy has dabbled a bit in music recording since his heyday and focused on stage acting during the 1980s and ’90s, television seems to be where he has settled in most comfortably — and mostly behind the scenes ever since his last notable onscreen appearance in the 1988 TV movie Roots: The Gift.
Remind Cassidy has created, written for and produced a number of popular series over the past few decades, including Blue Bloods (a consulting producer in 2011-12) and New Amsterdam (a writer/executive producer from 2018-23). Cassidy did revisit music in 2021 with his first live performance in nearly 40 years: his one-man stage show, The Magic of a Midnight Sky, which played to standing-room-only crowds nationwide. In his personal life, the now 65-year-old Cassidy has been married three times since 1979 and has eight children overall. Four of his children have been with producer Tracey Lynne Turner, whom Cassidy married in 2004.
Pamela Sue Martin (71)
Nancy Drew
Everett Collection; Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Beginning as a model at age 16, Pamela Sue Martin quickly moved into acting, starting with the lead female role in the 1972 comedy/drama To Find a Man when she was 19. She became a more familiar face to audiences on the small screen later in the decade thanks to the TV series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, in which she played Drew, and became even more popular when she originated the role of Fallon Carrington Colby on Dynasty. Martin starred in 88 episodes from 1981-84 before deciding to leave the show. As she told Closer magazine in an interview last year, “I’d had my fill and [made] just enough money to move on down the road. And I’ve never really looked back. I wanted to be with animals, ride horses, travel a bit and have a family. I was able to do all that by leaving.”
Aaron Spelling Prod./Courtesy: Everett Collection
Martin moved to Idaho to raise the son she had with her fourth husband before moving to Mexico. She has directed stage productions in both of those places, and while she has not returned to regular TV, she has appeared in numerous one-off guest star appearances over the years, including in the 2019 pilot episode of The CW’s Nancy Drew series. Clearly still passionate about the profession, the now 71-year-old actress was on the picket line outside Warner Bros. Studios amid the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.
Outside of acting, Martin has worked with environmental groups, including Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, and is national spokesperson for the Wild Horse Sanctuary in Shingletown, California.
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