Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Never to be Forgotten:
Dick Van Patten 1928-2015

Actor Dick Van Patten, pictured here as King Roland in Spaceballs, has died of complications from diabetes. He was 86.

For people who are fond of The Rule of Threes, I should point out that Van Patten is the fourth celebrity death report on this blog in the last two news cycles, though he stands apart from the other three by being the oldest by nearly twenty years and very easily arguably the most famous.

How should we rate the fame of Dick Van Patten? I would say he is slightly more famous than Abe Vigoda, but like Vigoda, he was a star on TV and a character actor in movies. I give him the slight nod over Vigoda because of their relative billings on their best known shows, Eight is Enough for Van Patten and Barney Miller for Vigoda. Besides Spaceballs, Van Patten's other genre work includes Lois & Clark, Westworld, The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Girl with Something Extra, Soylent Green and I Dream of Jeannie.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Dick Van Patten, from a saddened fan. He is never to be forgotten.

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