Alan Thicke

Alan Thicke
Thicke at the "Night of 100 Stars", at the Beverly Hills Hotel, March 2010
Born	Alan Willis Jeffery March 1, 1947 Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada
Alma mater	University of Western Ontario
Occupation	Actor, composer, TV host
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Gloria Loring (m. 1970–84) Gina Tolleson (m. 1994–99) Tanya Callau (m. 2005)
Children	Brennan Thicke Robin Thicke Carter Thicke
Relatives	Todd Thicke (half brother)

Alan Willis Thicke (born Alan Willis Jeffery; March 1, 1947) is a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is known for his role as Jason Seaver, the father on the ABC television series Growing Pains. He is the father of actor Brennan Thicke and singer Robin Thicke. In 2013, Thicke was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Early life

Thicke was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley "Joan" Isobel Marie (née Greer), a nurse, and William Jeffery, a stockbroker.^[1] His mother remarried to Brian Thicke, a physician.

Thicke graduated from Elliot Lake Secondary School in 1965, and was elected homecoming king. He went on to attend the University of Western Ontario, where he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity.

Career

Game shows

Thicke hosted a Canadian game show on CFCF-TV in Montreal called First Impressions in the late 1970s and the Saturday morning celebrity game show Animal Crack-Ups in the late 1980s. In 1997, he hosted a television version of the board game Pictionary.^[1] In the early 2000s, he hosted the All New 3's a Crowd on the Game Show Network.^[1]

Talk shows

Norman Lear hired Thicke to produce and head the writing staff of Fernwood 2-Night, a tongue-in-cheek talk show based on characters from Lear's earlier show, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. In the late 1970s, he was a frequent guest host of The Alan Hamel Show, a popular daytime talk show on Canadian TV, usually hosted by Alan Hamel. Thicke went on to host his own popular talk show in Canada during the early 1980s, called The Alan Thicke Show. The show at one point spawned a prime-time spinoff, Prime Cuts, which consisted of edited highlights from the talk show. Thicke was later signed to do an American syndicated late-night talk show, Thicke of the Night.

Theme song composer

Thicke had a successful career as a TV theme song composer, often collaborating with his then-wife Gloria Loring on these projects, which included the themes to the popular sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life. He also wrote a number of TV game show themes, including The Wizard of Odds (for which he also sang the vocal introduction), The Joker's Wild, Celebrity Sweepstakes, The Diamond Head Game, Animal Crack-Ups (which he co-wrote with his brother Todd Thicke and Gary Pickus), Blank Check, Stumpers!, Whew!,^[2] and the original theme to Wheel of Fortune. Thicke was a popular songwriter. He co-wrote "Sara", a solo hit for Bill Champlin and included on the latter's Runaway album (1981).

Growing Pains

Thicke played Jason Seaver, a psychiatrist and father, on the family sitcom Growing Pains.^[3] When the show began, Jason was moving his psychiatry practice into the home to be closer to the family's children while the family matriarch Maggie, played by Joanna Kerns, resumed her career as a reporter.^[4] Growing Pains debuted on ABC in 1985 and ran until 1992.^[3][5]

Two TV movies, The Growing Pains Movie (2000), and Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers (2004), followed.

Television and film appearances

Thicke in the 2000s

Thicke co-hosted the Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade (now the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade) with Joan Lunden from 1983 to 1990, when he was succeeded by Regis Philbin.

In 1988, he hosted the Miss USA Pageant in El Paso, Texas, replacing Bob Barker (who quit over fur being involved in the pageants). He replaced Barker again as host of the 1988 Miss Universe Pageant (along with Tracy Scoggins) in Taipei, Taiwan. Thicke was replaced by Dick Clark as host of the 1989 Miss USA Pageant in Mobile, Alabama and by John Forsythe as host of the 1989 Miss Universe Pageant in Cancun, Mexico.

Thicke continued hosting a wide range of variety TV events. In 1989 he co-hosted with SCTV alumnus Andrea Martin the TV special Opening of SkyDome in Toronto, which aired across Canada on the CBC.^[6] In 2004, he hosted the Miss Universe Canada Pageant in Ontario. Apart from Growing Pains, Thicke also appeared on the American television series Hope & Gloria, which ran for 35 episodes. He played a lead role in the Not Quite Human trilogy of made-for-TV movies. In April 2006, he hosted Celebrity Cooking Showdown on NBC, in which celebrities were teamed with famous chefs in a cooking competition. In August 2006 and 2007, Thicke made a few appearances as talk show host Rich Ginger on The Bold and the Beautiful. Thicke also had a cameo appearance in the 2007 movie Alpha Dog as the father of the lead character's girlfriend.

In 2008, Thicke appeared in a major supporting role as Jim Jarlewski in the television series adaptation of Douglas Coupland's jPod. That same year, he had a cameo appearance in the How I Met Your Mother episode "Sandcastles in the Sand" as the dad in Robin Scherbatsky's second "Robin Sparkles" music video.^[7] He guest starred as himself in the episode "The Rough Patch". He appeared on a website made specifically for the show, canadiansexacts.org, featured in the episode "Old King Clancy".

In February 2009, Thicke made a guest appearance on Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. In the same month, he made a guest appearance on the web series Star-ving.^[8] He also had a role in the 2009 film, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. On July 10, 2009, Thicke appeared on the 1000th episode of Attack of the Show!, and sang a song with Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn, at the end kissing Munn.

Thicke appeared in the season six finale of Just Shoot Me, "The Boys in the Band". He made a guest appearance on a few episodes of Canada's Worst Handyman 5. In 2010, Thicke appeared on the television program, Tosh.0. In October 2010, he appeared as a celebrity contestant on Don't Forget the Lyrics, where he played for the charities ProCon.org and the Alan Thicke Center for diabetes research.^[9]

In March 2013, he participated on ABC's Celebrity Wife Swap. He swapped wives with comedian Gilbert Gottfried.^[10]

Other hosting

In 2014 and 2015 Thicke hosted a traveling dance show called Dancing Pros Live which toured the United States.^[11]

Personal life

Thicke has been married three times: His first marriage, to Days of Our Lives actress Gloria Loring, lasted from 1970 until around 1984, and has two sons, Brennan and Robin Thicke.^[1] He started dating actress Kristy Swanson when she was 17 years old in 1986 and got engaged to her two years later when he was 42.^[12] He married his second wife, Miss World 1990 Gina Tolleson, on August 13, 1994, and had a son, Carter William Thicke, before their divorce was finalized on September 29, 1999.^[1] In 1999, he met Tanya Callau in Miami, where he was the celebrity host and she was a model. They married in 2005.^[13]

Filmography

Thicke at a Canadian Film Centre & Variety-hosted reception for the Telefilm Canada Features Comedy Lab, March 2012

Films

Year	Title	Role
1971	The Point!	Narrator/Father (voice; third telecast)
1983	Copper Mountain	Jackson Reach
1984	Calendar Girl Murders	Alan Conti
1991	And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird	Matthew Carson / Newman (voice)
1993	Betrayal of the Dove	Jack West
1993	Stepmonster	George Dougherty
1995	Open Season	Xanex
1996	Demolition High	Slater
1998	Anarchy TV	Reverend Wright
2000	Bear with Me
2001	Xin shi zi jie tou	Steve
2003	Hollywood North	Peter Casey
2003	Carolina	Chuck McBride – Perfect Date Host
2004	Raising Helen	Hockey Cantor
2004	Childstar	J.R.
2006	The Surfer King	Pipeman
2006	Alpha Dog	Douglas Holden
2009	The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard	Stu Harding
2009	RoboDoc	Dr. Roskin
2010	Making a Scene	The Producer

Television

Series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	It's Our Stuff	Regular
1974	Jack: A Flash Fantasy	Jack of Diamonds
1978	America 2-Night	Doug	Episode: "I Am Democracy"
1980–82	The Alan Thicke Show	Himself/Host	Also writer and producer
1983–84	Thicke of the Night	Himself/Host	Also writer and executive producer
1984	Masquerade		Episode: "Sleeper"
1984/87	The Love Boat	Alan Price / Robert McBride / Senator Bob Townsend	3 episodes
1985	Scene of the Crime	Craig Spears	Episode: "A Vote for Murder"
1985–92	Growing Pains	Jason Seaver
1990	The Hitchhiker	Mickey Black	Episode: "Tough Guys Don't Whine"
1992	Travelquest	Host
1993	Murder, She Wrote	Harrison M. Kane	Episode: "The Phantom Killer"
1994	Burke's Law		Episode: "Who Killed the Beauty Queen?"
1995	Minor Adjustments	Roger	Episode: "The Ex-Files"
1995–96	Hope & Gloria	Dennis Dupree
1996/97	Married... with Children	Bruce / Henry	3 episodes
1997	The Outer Limits	Donald Rivers	Episode: "A Special Edition"
1999	Arliss	Doctor	Episode: "Rules of the Game"
2000	Beggars and Choosers		Episode: "The Woodhouse Conundrum"
2000–02	Son of the Beach	Captain 'Buck' Enteneille / Captain Buck Enteneille	3 episodes
2001	7th Heaven	Ed Palmer	Episode: "Parents"
2003	EGG, the Arts Show	Alan Scott	Episode: "Broadway Workshop"
2004	My Wife and Kids	Magician	Episode: "Fantasy Camp: Part 2"
2005	Yes, Dear	Joel	Episode: "The New Neighbors"
2005	Half & Half	Gavin Storm	Episode: "The Big Mothers for Others Episode"
2005	Joey	Himself	Episode: "Joey and the Poker"
2006–09	The Bold and the Beautiful	Rich Ginger	7 episodes
2007	Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide	Hal E. Burton	Episode: "Spring Fever & the School Newspaper"
2008	About a Girl	Dude's Dad	Episode: "About a Homecoming"
2008	JPod	Jim Jarlewski	13 episodes
2008/13	How I Met Your Mother	Himself	4 episodes
2010	Canada's Worst Handyman 5	Himself
2010	Tosh.0	Himself	Episode: "Crystal Light Dancers (Reunion)"
2011	I'm in the Band	Simon Craig	5 episodes
2011	This Hour Has 22 Minutes	Himself
2012	The L.A. Complex	Donald Gallagher	4 episodes
2013	Celebrity Wife Swap	Himself	Season 2, episode 3
2014	Unusually Thicke	Himself	Reality show; 14 episodes
2014	American Dad!	Himself	Episode: "Permanent Record Wrecker"
2015	Scream Queens	Tad Radwell	Episode: "Thanksgiving"
2015	The Jack and Triumph Show	Himself	Episode: 7

Movies

Year	Title	Role
1986	Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star	Steve Carr
1987	Hitting Home	Conrad Vaughan
1987	Not Quite Human	Dr. Jonas Carson
1988	14 Going on 30	The real Forndexter
1988	Dance 'til Dawn	Jack Lefcourt
1989	Not Quite Human II	Dr. Jonas Carson
1990	Jury Duty: The Comedy	Phil Beckman
1992	The Trial of Red Riding Hood	The Wolf
1992	Still Not Quite Human	Dr. Jonas Carson
1993	Rubdown	Raymond Holliman
1994	Lamb Chop and the Haunted Studio	Alan
1995	Lamb Chop's Special Chanukah	Alan
1996	Windsor Protocol	Senator Joplin Hardy
1996	Shari's Passover Surprise	Alan
1996	The Secret She Carried	Reed Epperson (uncredited)
1997	Shadow of the Bear	William Andrich
1997	Any Place But Home	August Danforth
1998	Thunder Point	Joplin Hardy
1998	Casper Meets Wendy	Baseball Announcer
1999	Two of Hearts	Hank Powers
2000	Ice Angel	Coach Parker
2000	The Growing Pains Movie	Jason Seaver
2004	Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers	Jason Seaver
2008	Mother Goose Parade
2013	Camp Sunshine	Ken Handcourt
2013	Bad Management	Tobias Sr.
2013	Let It Snow	Ted Beck

Commercials

In the 1990s, Thicke was the spokesman for the Canadian division of Woolco department stores until its demise in 1994.^[14] In 1991 Thicke appeared in a television commercial for 'Fruit of the Loom' underwear. In 1997 he appeared in a television infomercial for the 'Bright Smile' tooth whitening system. He appeared in 2007 in a TV ad for the 'Tahiti Village' a Las Vegas time-share resort that went out of business in 2009. In 2009 Thicke began appearing in TV ads endorsing CCS Medical, a distributor of home-delivered diabetes supplies.^[15][16][17] In 2014, Thicke began appearing in ad spots for OptimaTax Relief.^[18]

Books

• Thicke, Alan (May 1999). How Men Have Babies: The Pregnant Father's Survival Guide. Contemporary Books. ISBN 978-0-8092-2806-5.
• Thicke, Alan (April 27, 2006). How To Raise Kids Who Won't Hate You. iUniverse Star. ISBN 978-0-595-84288-9.

Honors

• 1988: Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical for Growing Pains
• 1998: Nominated – Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Audience Participation Show/Game Show for Pictionary (co-executive producer)
• 2013: Inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame^[19]

References

1. "Alan Thicke Biography". FilmReference.com. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
2. "Whew! Credits". Television Production Music Museum. 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved August 7, 2010. Alan Thicke: Did not save a master reel. He didn't even remember doing the show. After much discussion, he gave the museum a written release so we can acquire anything the US Copyright office has regarding WHEW!
3. Hal Erickson, Rovi. "Alan Thicke". New York Times. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
4. Margulies, Lee (9 October 1985). "He's Never Too Thicke To Endure 'Growing Pains'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
5. Slate, Libby (25 April 1992). "A Night of Long Goodbys at ABC: Television: The last episodes of 'Growing Pains,' 'Who's the Boss?' and 'MacGyver' are expected to lure faithful viewers one more time.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e3f4sWNFh4
7. "Sandcastles In The Sand". How I Met Your Mother. Season 3. Episode 16. April 21, 2008. CBS.
8. "News and Updates". AlanThicke.com. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
9. "Don't Forget the Lyrics!". ProCon.org. October 20, 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
10. Itzkoff, Dave (March 11, 2013). "Vulgarity’s Abrasive Master, but Not at Home". New York Times. p. C1. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
11. BWW News Desk (September 17, 2014). "Karina Smirnoff, Chelsie Hightower & More Set for DANCING PROS: LIVE Tour". broadwayworld.com. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
12. "Alan Thicke". TV.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
13. "Growing Pains' Alan Thicke Ties the Knot". People.com. May 11, 2005. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
14. Don't get me started!: reflections ... – Susan Mackie Smith – Google Books. Books.google.ca. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
15. Weather & Time. "Does Alan Thicke have diabetes?". ChaCha. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
16. juliana (April 25, 2007). "Alan Thicke Hawking Las Vegas Time Shares". HotelChatter. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
17. Walters, Chris (June 24, 2009). "Alan Thicke Can't Save Tahiti Village Timeshare Company From Going Under". The Consumerist. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
18. "Optima Tax Relief TV Spot, 'IRS' Featuring Alan Thicke".
19. "Alan Thicke". Canada's Walk of Fame. Retrieved 2013-06-25.

External links

• Official website
• Alan Thicke at the Internet Movie Database
• Alan Thicke at the Internet Broadway Database
• Alan Thicke in NNDB
• Alan Thicke in biography.com