Eight is Enough actor Dick Van Patten dead

Actor Dick Van Patten, who played the role of paterfamilias on the comedy-drama Eight Is Enough is dead. He was 86.

Patten died on Tuesday at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California, due to complications from diabetes, reports variety.com.

The actor also appeared in Disney films including Freaky Friday as well as Mel Brooks comedies High Anxiety, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Space Balls. Though long associated with television and film comedies, the actor spent a great deal of time on stage, making the first of his two dozen or so appearances on Broadway as a child back in 1937, in Kurt Weill’s The Eternal Road. He also appeared onscreen in a guest role as Lester on TV Land’S Hot in Cleveland. 

The actor is Survived by wife Pat, to whom he was married since 1954; three sons, actors Nels Van Patten, James Van Patten and Vincent Van Patten; a sister, actress Joyce Van Patten; and a much younger half-brother, director-producer Timothy Van Patten.