RIP Dick Van Patten

Dick Van Patten, who played the family patriarch on the ABC series Eight Is Enough, has died, his publicist Jeff Ballard confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86.

The soft-spoken actor died Tuesday morning at Saint John's Hospital in Santa Monica due to complications from diabetes.

"He was the kindest man you could ever meet in life. A loving family man. They don't make them like him anymore," Ballard said in a statement.

Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Pat, a former June Taylor Dancer; sons Nels, Jimmy and Vincent, sister Joyce Van Patten and niece Talia Balsam, all actors; and his half-brother, Emmy-winning director Tim Van Patten.

Oh wow. Another actor prominent from my childhood gone.

I will always have fond memories of Eight Is Enough and Mr. Van Patten. I was 7 when the show originally aired and it was one of the first TV shows I remember making sure I watched every week. My real home life wasn't anywhere near as idyllic as the Bradford home and that made it kind of comforting to escape into their world once per week. As an only child I couldn't fathom what it was like to live in a house with all those people running around.

I just watched High Anxiety last week and Van Patten has a small role in that as well.

He also had a small role in Soylent Green as the operator of the suicide machine. I swear it was the only thing I've seen him in besides his numerous tv roles (although I'm sure I'm forgetting some here and there).

He was right up there with Mike Brady and Howard Cunningham as legendary tv dads. I loved his cameos in Weird Al videos too. Fare thee well, sir.

He was also in several Mel Brooks films:

S.D. wrote:

I will always have fond memories of Eight Is Enough and Mr. Van Patten.  I was 7 when the show originally aired and it was one of the first TV shows I remember making sure I watched every week.  My real home life wasn't anywhere near as idyllic as the Bradford home and that made it kind of comforting to escape into their world once per week.  As an only child I couldn't fathom what it was like to live in a house with all those people running around. 

This was one of my favorite shows growing up as well. When the show came on the air, my brother was born, so I couldn't understand the idea of a big family either, but I loved the dynamics nonetheless. Big house, but with only one bathroom and everybody fighting over it. I thought it was pretty amazing how the death of Diana Hyland was used in one of the saddest episodes I ever remember on T.V in season 2, when Tommy gets a Christmas present from his mother, who had been dead for months, but had hidden the present. Like many T.V shows, Eight Is Enough had a different theme song starting off, like Starsky & Hutch, Happy Days, etc...



This has been a really bad week for people dying. R.I.P. Mr Van Patten

Cool, thanks for sharing the intro video.

I just looked it up and the house that was used in the location shooting still exists in Pasadena. I'll have to add that to my list of movie locations to visit in the near future.

Some of my earliest memories are of his show and others like The Greatest American Hero and Silver Spoons. The early 80's was a great time, especially the Saturday morning cartoons!  RIP Mr. Van Patten.

A couple of tidbit memories regarding Eight is Enough:

Mr. Van Patten was a great guy, I remember when he was in the news for reportedly bailing out his former youngest TV son Adam Rich from drug related jail time.

Also, I thought it was kinda interesting watching one of the reunion specials, which had Willie Aames (one of the TV sons) with a poster of Stryper on the wall of his bedroom.

RIP