'Eight is Enough' star Van Patten dies at age 86
NEW YORK — Dick Van Patten, 86, the genial, round-faced comic actor who premiered on Broadway as a child, starred on television in its infancy and then, in middle age, found lasting fame as the patriarch on TV’s “Eight is Enough,” has died.
Born in New York, the veteran entertainer began his career as a model and child actor, making his Broadway debut in 1935 at the age of 7, billed as “Dickie Van Patten.” He would go on to appear in 27 other Broadway plays.
In 1949, he began a seven-year run on one of TV’s earliest series, the CBS comedy “Mama,” playing one of the sons of a Norwegian-American family in early 1900s San Francisco.
Van Patten’s greatest TV success was as Tom Bradford, a widower and father of eight who met and married Abby (played by Betty Buckley), with whom he set up a loving if chaotic household. The ABC comedy-drama aired from 1977-1981.
By The Associated Press
