Celebrity Biographies
Dick Van Patten
He swept the late 70s as the protagonist of “Eight is enough”, a series that became a sensation all over the world. Dick Van Patten, father of the protagonist clan, died at the age of 86 on June 23, 2015, due to complications from diabetes that he suffered, in a Santa Monica hospital. “He was the kindest man in the world. They don’t make people like that anymore,” said his representative, Jeff Ballard, in charge of making the sad news public.
Born on December 9, 1928, New Yorker Richard Vincent Van Patten, always known as Dick, was the older brother of Joyce Van Patten , also a performer on titles like A Place to Stay . He made his debut as a child actor at age 7 in the Broadway play “The Eternal Road,” where he used the stage name Dickie Van Patten.
At the age of 20, Dick Van Patten made his television debut as a regular on the series Mama . From that moment on he lavished himself on the small screen, he continued to lavish himself on plays and appeared briefly in a feature film, such as Joe Kidd , where he was a hotelier who hosted Clint Eastwood , or When Fate Overtakes Us , where he played a janitor. , alongside Charlton Heston .
But he became popular not only in the United States with the series Eight is enough , where he was Tom Bradford, a columnist for a newspaper with eight children. The actress who played his fictional wife, Diana Hyland, died after filming the first episodes, leaving the character as a widower. Later, he found love again, marrying Abby. In the pilot, the eldest son was played by Mark Hamill , who left the series to star in Star Wars . This production remained on the air for five seasons. When TV Guide magazine compiled a list of the 50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time, Tom Bradford was ranked 33rd. He reprized the character in telefilmsEight is enough: family reunion and Eight is enough: the wedding , from the late 1980s, and he also gave the voice to its animated version in a chapter of Family Guy .
In real life he only had three children, with his wife, Patricia Poole, who was a dancer when they married in 1954. His offspring, Nels, James and Vincent Van Patten, followed in his footsteps in the world of acting.
At the end of his career, he did a lot of work, as a supporting role in series like Holidays at Sea. He became a regular face in the Mel Brooks comedies , with whom he starred in High Anxiety , The Crazy Star Story and The Crazy, Crazy Adventures of Robin Hood .