Dick Van Patten, a prolific figure with a celebrated career in television, has passed away at the age of 86. While his array of small screen roles over several decades is vast, he was best known as one television’s most indelibly iconic dads Tom Bradford on the 1977-1981 dramatic comedy, Eight is Enough.
The news comes by way of a statement released by the actor’s representative, and E! News further confirms that Van Patten succumbed to complications from diabetes early on Tuesday morning at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. Van Patten’s publicist, Jeff Ballard, spoke out about the man in a statement to The Wrap:
He was the kindest man you could ever meet in life. A loving family man. They don’t make them like him anymore.
Van Patten’s long, storied life as a performer began as a fresh-faced prepubescent child actor on the Broadway stage in 1937. After putting in his time in numerous productions, the allure of the camera called a teen-aged Van Patten with his role in the 1949-1956 sitcom, Mama. From there, he racked up a resume of appearances on a vast number of historically significant programs, with recurring roles in Love, American Style, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Emergency! and Happy Days.
In 1977, he landed the career-defining role as the original patriarch of a television program with similarities to Full House, playing the widower Tom Bradford on the smash hit, Eight is Enough. That role made him a household name and lasted for five seasons until the show's end in 1981. Of course, his television appearances continued steadily, with a notable recurring guest role on The Love Boat, and later, several other roles spanning all the way to 2011, with his last appearance in front of the camera for a role in the show, Hot in Cleveland.
Van Patten was no stranger to the big screen, as well. While that CV was a bit thinner, he may actually be best remembered by generations too young to catch Eight is Enough for his sporadic cinematic works, starting with his first feature film role in 1963’s Violent Midnight. He would notably become a semi-repertory player for comedy maestro, Mel Brooks in films such as High Anxiety, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and, perhaps most memorable of them all, as the air-enriched Druidia monarch, King Roland in Spaceballs. In that role, Van Patten was integral in performing one the film’s several hilariously memorable jokes that made any potential “idiot” rethink their choice of luggage combinations, or, in this day and age, passwords. Watch the scene in the video below.
Dick Van Patten leaves behind a wife over sixty years in Patricia and three sons, Nells, Jimmy and Vincent. The world of television clearly lost an icon in the truest sense this morning. Rest in peace, Mr. Van Patten.
