LOS ANGELES (AP) – Adam Rich, the pageboy-clad child actor who captivated television audiences as “America’s little brother” on Eight Is Enough, has died. He was 54 years old.
Lt. Amy Earl of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said Rich died Saturday at his home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. The cause of death is being investigated, but it is not being treated as suspicious.
Rich had a limited acting career after starring at age 8 as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of eight children, on the hit ABC drama that ran from 1977 to 1981.
He had several altercations with police related to drugs and alcohol and sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage. (Adam Rich, Former ‘At Is Enough’ Child Star, Dies At 54)
Publicist Danny Derain said Rich was suffering from a form of depression that defied treatment and sought to erase the stigma of speaking out about mental illness. He tried unsuccessfully experimental cures for years.
Diane said she and others close to Rich were concerned in recent weeks when they were unable to reach him.
“She was a very kind, generous, and loving soul,” Diane told The Associated Press. “Being a famous actor isn’t necessarily what he wanted to be… He had no ego, not an ounce.”
Rich opened up about his mental health on Twitter, noting in October that he had been sober for seven years. He said he was not perfect, citing arrests, multiple stints in rehab, multiple overdoses, and “countless detox (and) relapses”, urging his nearly 19,000 followers never to give up.
“Human beings were not created to suffer mental illness,” Rich tweeted in September. “The mere fact that some people consider him weak or lacking in willpower is utterly ridiculous… because the opposite is true! This is a very, very strong person…a warrior in need, if you will. To fight against such diseases.
Rich Posted A Photo Of Himself From His Heyday With Former Child Star Mickey Rooney.
“Everyone used to tell me, ‘You’re the modern Mickey Rooney,'” he tweeted. “But when Mickey Rooney told me, it meant a lot to me.”
Nearly 27 years ago, Rich participated in a hoax published by Might magazine regarding the actor’s death in a 1996 robbery outside a Los Angeles nightclub. The article in the little-known magazine was meant to be a satire of the American obsession with celebrities, but it fell through when the parody was revealed.
“I think we were too subtle. People didn’t get the joke,” Rich later told the Chicago Tribune. “I do not wanna die.”
Rich was the younger brother of a generation of viewers as the mopped-up son of a newspaper columnist, played by Dick Van Patten, who had to raise eight children alone after his wife on the show, and his role as The actress passed away. Filming of the first season.
According to IMDB.com, Rich starred in the series Code Red from 1981 to 1982 and voiced the character Presto the Magician on Dungeons & Dragons from 1983 to 1985. He reprised his most famous role in two TV movie reunions with Eight Is Enough. (Adam Rich, Former ‘At Is Enough’ Child Star, Dies At 54)
But the rest of his acting career was built around single-episode appearances on some of the most popular TV shows of the day: The Love Boat, The Six Million Dollar Man, Silver Spoons, and Baywatch. His most recent credit listed on IMDB was playing Crocodile Dundee on Reel Comedy in 2003.
