|
Post by Mandoli on Dec 13, 2016 21:11:51 GMT -5
You may know him from Pictionary. Well, he passed away today.
If I can find a bigger obituary, that will be posted. If not, someone's going to have to do it for me.
|
|
|
Post by Mandoli on Dec 13, 2016 21:26:21 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Frank on Dec 13, 2016 21:30:41 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by stevearino on Dec 13, 2016 21:42:28 GMT -5
It's with great sadness yours truly announces that Alan Thicke, age 69, has died of a Massive Heart Attack.
Per TMZ, Alan was playing a friendly game of Hockey with his 19-year-old son, Carter, when he had the Heart Attack that ended his life tonight; after being transported to Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank, California, he was pronounced Deceased at the Hospital.
Alan Willis Jeffrey was born on March 1, 1947 in Kirkland Lake, Canada. After his biological father, Bill Jeffrey, left the family when he was very young, Alan's mother, Mary, rekindled a romance with Dr. Brian Thicke, a flight Physician with whom she gave Alan a younger half-brother, Todd Thicke, a former staff writer for Vin Di Bona via Vin's game-show classic "America's Funniest Home Videos."
No strangers to game shows himself, Alan had his own talk show in Canada called "The Alan Thicke Show," and after coming to the U.S. from his native Canada, he wrote several game show theme songs--including the theme for the short-lived "Diamond Head Game" as well as the original theme to the network "Wheel of Fortune" (titled "Big Wheels"), used until "Wheel" entered Syndication, after which Merv Griffin wrote the show's most popular theme song "Changing Keys."
After his dud of a talk show ("Thicke of a Night") was canceled, Alan was one of 150 men who auditioned for the part of Dr. Jason Seaver (patriarch of the Seaver family clan) on a situation comedy pilot titled "Growing Pains."
Joining Alan in the cast were, respectively, by March 1985, 32-year-old Joanna Kerns (born Joanna DeVarona on February 12, 1953 in San Francisco, California) as Dr. Jason's wife, Maggie; 15-year-old Kirk Cameron (born on October 12, 1969 in Los Angeles, California) as eldest Seaver kid Michael Aaron "Mike" Seaver; 15-year-old Tracey Gold (born Tracey Fisher on May 16, 1969 in New York City, New York) as eldest teen daughter Carol Seaver; and 9 1/2-year-old Jeremy Miller (born on October 21, 1975 in West Covina, California) as youngest Seaver son Ben Seaver.
Creator Neal Marlens based "Growing Pains" on his real-life experiences as a '70s teenager growing up in Long Island, New York 10 years earlier, where he idolized Baseball Player Tom Seaver of the New York Mets.
The original pilot was taped in April 1985 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California and was immediately picked up by execs at the ABC Television Network for the Fall 1985 TV season.
On September 24, 1985 at 8 P.M. ET/PT (right after "Who's the Boss"), "Growing Pains" made its debut on the ABC Television Network; though ratings were poor in its debut season, thanks to Kirk Cameron's teen-idolotry, "Growing Pains" found viewers during its Summer 1986 hiatus, and by September 1986, Kirk Cameron, at age 16, became a bona-fide teen heartthrob.
However, that wasn't enough to stop Kirk Cameron from going through real-life "Growing Pains" of his own, as he stated in his 2008 memoir "Still Growing," when he & his younger sister, Candace (born on April 6, 1975 in Los Angeles, California), were informed by their parents Rob & Barbara that their 17-year marriage (beginning 3 1/2 months before Kirk's arrival on Earth) was ending in divorce (they eventually reconciled and remarried 6 months later); during a break from filming "Like Father, Like Son," Kirk, then age 17, began his walk with Jesus Christ that eventually led him in 2000, at age 30, to start his own Ministry.
As for Alan Thicke, he got offer after offer after offer--including hosting game shows such as "Animal Crack-Ups" and a short-lived game show version of the famous board game "Pictionary" during and after "Growing Pains" ended.
His first marriage, to actress/singer Gloria Loring, ended in Divorce after 15 years and 2 sons (including voice-over actor son Brennan and his son Robin, a famous Musician in his own right). A marriage to Gina Tolleson (resulting in his youngest son Carter) ended in Divorce by the year 2000 before he married in 2006 Tanya Callau, his wife of 10 years, who survives him.
In addition to "Growing Pains," Alan also acted, more recently, with Candace Cameron TWICE--"Let It Snow" in 2013 and most recently on "Fuller House: Season 2" now on Netflix.
03/01/1947 - 12/13/2016
|
|
|
Post by Frank on Dec 13, 2016 21:49:23 GMT -5
It's eerie how this just follows reports of a death of him being a hoax.
|
|
|
Post by Mandoli on Dec 14, 2016 6:56:55 GMT -5
Merging this with the thread I made in the news board.
|
|
|
Post by Mandoli on Dec 14, 2016 8:40:55 GMT -5
Merging this with the thread that was made in the News board.
|
|
|
Post by wildjackmonroe on Dec 15, 2016 10:30:11 GMT -5
I was so heartbroken to hear of his passing. Another big loss for the world of pop culture this year. Alan was amazing on Growing Pains, but he was also one of my favorite TV theme composers ever. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have the iconic Facts of Life theme song (which he wrote the lyrics for), or the Diff'rent Strokes theme; and his work in game shows is where I think he also really shined. Whew!, Wheel of Fortune, Wizard of Odds, and The Diamond Head Game... and if I'm being entirely honest, the only thing redeemable for me about The Diamond Head Game was that theme music. I used to always look forward to watching Pictionary whenever I was off from school as well.
|
|