Dick Van Patten, Starred In "Eight Is Enough," R.I.P.

Dick Van Patten, the actor best remembered for portraying the father of eight youngsters on the ABC Television Network comedy-drama series Eight is Enough, passed away on Tuesday at Santa Monica, California of complications from diabetes at age 86.

Mr. Van Patten, who began his career as a model and child actor, made his Broadway debut in 1935 at age seven, billed as "Dickie Van Patten."

Dick first became known to television viewers as Nels, one of the sons of a Norwegian-American family on the CBS Network series Mama, which ran from 1949 to 1957.

But it was in 1977 that Dick first played his best-remembered role, as Tom Bradford, the father of eight kids on the 1977-81 comedy-drama series Eight is Enough.  It was following the passing of his first wife (played by Diana Hyland who passed away just weeks after the series premiered) that widower Tom married a nurse named Abby (played by Betty Buckey).  Together, the two ran and set up a chaotic household with all those kids.