Fred Renfrew, also referred to as Walter Renfrew, is the father of Shirley Partridge and the husband of Amanda Renfrew.
Background[]
Fred always wanted to be in show business, but went into plumbing instead. He and Amanda have been married since roughly 1926. When they were courting, he used to play Bye Bye Blackbird. He also likes to sing My Best Girl to her. Over the course of their marriage, whenever Fred wanted to do something exciting or reckless, Amanda would restrain him. In 1969 or 1970, Fred started having a mid-life crisis. He sold his old car, bought a fast convertible, and started dressing and talking like someone in his twenties. Amanda was greatly annoyed by these changes.[1]
According to Hel-l-lp!!!, Chris and Tracy Partridge's grandparents live on a farm, but it's unknown if that refers to Fred and Amanda or to Mr. Partridge's parents.
On the series[]
In every one of their episodes, Fred and Amanda separate and then get back together again.
In Whatever Happened to the Old Songs? Fred starts singing and playing the mandolin with the Partridge Family in their garage. After the Partridges go on tour, Fred decides to sail to Hawaii in a 20-foot sailboat. Amanda refuses, so Fred leaves her and follows the Partridges to pursue his dreams of going into show business. They let him sing and play the mandolin with them onstage. Fred, convinced of his talent, auditions in front of Reuben Kincaid by playing Point Me in the Direction of Albuquerque on his mandolin. Reuben calls him "pure camp," which doesn't discourage him even after Chris Partridge explains what "camp" means. On the night that Fred is supposed to sing lead on a song for the first time, Amanda is in the audience. She requests "Bye Bye Blackbird." Fred sings it with the Partridges backing him up. He and Amanda realize that they still love each other and reconcile after the show. They buy tickets for a round-the-world cruise together so Fred can travel and Amanda can be safe.
In The Forty-Year Itch, Fred decides to move to Big Sur to live in the woods. Amanda refuses to go with him, so he goes without her. He and Amanda both end up staying at the Partridges' house in San Pueblo. Over the next few days, he gets on the Partridges' nerves through his immaturity and his attempts to act hip. He keeps delaying his plans to leave for Big Sur, which Shirley realizes is because he doesn't really want to leave Amanda. When he does finally leave San Pueblo, he tries to hitchhike to Big Sur, but can't get a ride. The Partridges are driving to their next venue when they pass him on the road and let him into the bus. When they reach the venue, they decide to play "My Best Girl." This reminds Fred and Amanda that they love each other, and they decide to stay together. Amanda even agrees to try living in the woods for a week.
In The Modfather, Amanda and her husband, now named Walter, go to an encounter group and leave convinced that they've solved all problems of human relationships. They temporarily move in with the Partridges in order to teach them to overanalyze their body language and share all their thoughts, no matter how insulting. Eventually Walter and Amanda decide that their work is done and leave, but not long afterwards, they both tell each other that the marriage has lost its zip. Walter and Amanda move back in with the Partridges and immediately start fighting. Soon they decide to get a divorce, but continue to live together in an open relationship. Shirley suggests that they save money on lawyers by getting an imaginary divorce. Shirley tells Reuben to get Walter a date for the Partridge Family's performance at the Boat House. That night, Reuben goes to the Boat House with Walter, as well as with Candy and Daisy, who are decades younger than Walter and love hearing his stories about the Great Depression. While the Partridge Family plays Something New Got Old, Walter and Amanda ditch their respective dates and go to be with each other. They spend the next day talking to each other upstairs in the Partridge house. In the end, they decide that their problems are insurmountable, but that they still want to be together. They decide to renew their marriage vows in a small, private ceremony at the Partridge house.
In Maid in San Pueblo, Shirley invites Walter, now played by Jackie Coogan, to stay at the Partridge house, where Amanda is working as a maid. As usual, the two fight constantly. After Keith Partridge makes the mistake of saying that men can fend for themselves but women are dependent on men, the family gets caught up in a war of the sexes. The women cook for themselves and leave the men to survive off of Walter's awful cooking and fail miserably at doing the laundry. Danny Partridge hatches a scheme for Walter and Reuben to pretend to be burglars so the women will be forced to rely on Keith and Danny's protection. Instead, Shirley calls the police, resulting in the men being arrested. Shirley finally orders Walter and Amanda to settle their differences by morning. The two stay up all night and fall asleep on the sofa together. Now reconciled, the two attend the Partridge Family's next concert and listen to Ricky Stevens sing Grandma (We Love You Just the Way You Are) in the backyard.
Trivia[]
- The only thing he knows how to cook is Renfrew Stew, which everyone but himself hates, and which Amanda uses to kill slugs.[2]