Alan Thicke

Until 1985, Alan Thicke was best known for his failure as a talk show host (The Thicke Of The Night), and for co-writing TV theme songs such as "Diff'rent Strokes" and "The Facts Of Life".

That all changed when he took the role of Jason Seaver in a new situation comedy called "Growing Pains." With his passing on December 13th, we've lost another of our favorite TV parents. He credited his success to drawing on his own parenting experiences. In the '80's he was part of a fraternity of TV fathers, including Michael Gross of "Family Ties" and Bill Cosby of "The Cosby Show," who helped establish an ideal for supportive parenthood, one half-hour comedy at a time. During the show's run from 1985-1992, he said "The show comes from a reality base. When I'm out, one of the main comments I hear is 'My kid is just like that,' or 'My wife and I just went through that.' And I find myself coming home at night and saying, 'I just did this scene.'" 

His passing at age 69 comes as a shock to his family and millions of adoring fans.