Danny Bonaduce Shares Details of On-Set Clash That Got ‘Partridge Family' Co-Star Fired
Danny Bonaduce shared new details on the reason why one of his original Partridge Family co-stars was fired after one season.
In a May 2026 interview on the Pop Culture Retro podcast, Bonaduce, 66, was asked about Jeremy Gelbwaks, the actor who played his little brother Chris Partridge on the first season of the music-themed ABCsitcom in 1970. After the first season, Gelbwaks disappeared from the show, and a new kid, Brian Forster, appeared as the pint-sized Partridge Family drummer.
On the podcast, Bonaduce claimed that "everybody" had issues with Gelbwaks during Season 1 of the hit sitcom. "He was, in my estimation, he was a terrible kid," Bonaduce said. "He didn't know his lines. He wouldn't, you know, practice the drum, whatever it was."
Bonaduce, who was just 11 at the time, explained that he did "the only thing" he knew how to do.
"One day we're at the table reading," he recalled. "We're all sitting around, everybody's being a grown-up because everybody's got a job to do. And he kicks me under the table. And being a true Bonaduce… I just reach over the chair, blasted him, and down he went. And he came up bleeding and crying and screaming. And I felt pretty good about it, to be honest with you. But then it happened another time or two, and then finally they said, ‘Well, one of these guys has to go.' And luckily, they picked him."
"It wasn't contentious," Bonaduce added. "It was physical violence. And he did not, he wasn't good at it. I was good at it."
Bonaduce played middle son Danny Partridge on the ABC sitcom from 1970 to 1974. In addition to him and Gelbwaks, the original cast also starred Shirley Jones, David Cassidy, Susan Dey, Suzanne Crough, and Dave Madden.
As an adult, Gelbwaks had a rare reunion with his former co-stars to mark The Partridge Family's 25th anniversary. During the 1995 reunion on The Danny Bonaduce Show, Bonaduce did not share the on-set fight story, and instead said to Gelbwaks, "You stopped playing on The Partridge Family because your father moved. Your father was in the service, right?"'
Gelbwaks confirmed that the family moved out of the Los Angeles area.
Bonaduce then asked his former co-star if he had read David Cassidy's tell-all book, C'mon Get Happy. Bonaduce read a passage from the book that described Gelbwaks as "rather obnoxious" and "hyperactive" on the set of the classic TV sitcom.
Without missing a beat, Gelbwaks pointed to Bonaduce and replied, "Apparently, there was only room for one of that kind on the show."
More than 50 years after his brief stint on The Partridge Family, Gelbwaks lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, and has worked as a management consultant and director, per Nola Musicon.
Related: ‘Partridge Family' Star Danny Bonaduce Gives Rare Update on Susan Dey and Shirley Jones
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 4:12 AM.