According to publicist Daniel Bernstein, Dick Van Patten, the genial comic actor best known as the patriarch of TV’s “Eight is Enough,” has died. Born in New York, the veteran entertainer began his career as a child actor performing on the stage and on TV during its infancy.
But his greatest success was as Tom Bradford, a middle-aged widower and father of eight children who met and married Abby, played by Betty Buckley. The ABC comedy-drama aired from 1977-1981.
