Dick Van Patten, who starred in one of TV’s earliest series I Remember Mama but is perhaps best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bradford — the man who celebrated two 50th birthdays — on Eight is Enough has died at age 86 in Santa Monica, California.
He passed from complications due to diabetes.
The longtime actor also had his own line of dog food — Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance. In addition to those two TV roles mentioned above, Van Patten was in Spaceballs, Lois & Clark, Hot in Cleveland, and even one of the Love Boat pilot movies.
May he spend his days like bright and shiny new dimes up in heaven… whatever that was supposed to mean.
