Alan Thicke

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Canadian-American writer, TV host, sitcom veteran actor, composer, humorist and recording artist. He was known for his role as a talk show host on "Hope and Gloria," and for the seven-season series, "Growing Pains" where he played affable dad Jason Seaver. He also had a talk show "Thicke of the Night." Thicke was born Alan Jeffrey, the only child of a now-retired stockbroker and his wife, a nurse, who divorced in 1953. His mother re-married and had two other children; Thicke took his stepfather’s name. An excellent student, he skipped grades four and six. He graduated pre-med from the University of Western Ontario, but then decided to pursue television, and began writing comedy specials in Canada. After a move to Los Angeles in 1970 he won his first Emmy award for a writing assignment, "The Lohman and Barkley Comedy Hour." He expanded writing into producing and directing assignments and also songwriting. A composer of songs for several TV series and six songs for his own record album, Thicke hosted a popular daytime talk show as well as an evening show, seeming to find his niche playing host to game shows, talk shows and specials. He was married in 1970 to actress-singer Gloria Loring, but she filed for divorce in May 1984, the same day his talk show "Thicke of the Night" was cancelled. He and Loring had two children, Brennan and Robin. On 13 August 1994 he married the 1991 Miss World, Gina Tolleson, whom he had met at a photo shoot in 1992 while publicizing their roles as co hosts of the forthcoming Miss World pageant. They had a son, Carter William, on 10 July 1997. Carter's arrival inspired Thicke to write the humorous book, "How Men Have Babies: The Pregnant Father's Survival Guide." After five years of marriage, he and Gina separated in September 1999. They mutually shared the custody of Carter and Thicke thoroughly enjoyed parenting the second time around. To his sorrow, his mother died on 16 September 1999 in Toronto at the age of 71, just days after Gina separated from him. His mother was never able to overcome her alcohol demon. Alan and his brother and sister had set up a trust fund to pay her expenses just to make sure she kept a roof over her head. Alan credited his mother for his career achievements, saying that it was she that kept him on-track and encouraged. Thicke had a severe accident in the hockey rink on 22 April 2003 in Los Angeles, in which he had five teeth knocked out by a flying puck. The actor, who had played hockey since he was five, needed 30 stitches, mostly inside his mouth. He wed longtime girlfriend, 30-year-old model Tanya Callau, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on 7 May 2005. This was Thicke’s third marriage and Callau’s first. He had a heart attack at about 11:15 AM on 13 December 2016 and died later that day at 2:14 PM during surgery for a ruptured aorta at Burbank, Los Angeles, aged 69. Link to Wikipedia biography