Adam Rich has passed away. He was a child actor wearing a pageboy mop-top and charmed viewers on TV as “America’s little sister” on Eight is Enough. He was 54.
Rich died Saturday in his Brentwood home, according to Lt. Aimee Ear of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Coroner’s Office. Although the cause of death is under investigation, it was not considered suspicious.
Rich was only able to act briefly after his role as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest child of eight, on ABC’s hit dramedy from 1977-1981.
He was involved in several drug and alcohol-related incidents with the police. He sought treatment at Rancho Mirage’s Betty Ford Center.
Rich was diagnosed with a severe form of depression and had to be treated. Danny Deraney, a publicist, stated that Rich tried to get rid of stigmatization surrounding mental illness. He tried many experimental treatments over the years, but failed to succeed.
Rich’s friend Deraney stated that he was worried about Rich in recent weeks, when he couldn’t be reached.
Adam Rich, an actor in Eight is Enough child, appears before a Van Nuys court on August 20, 1991.Nick Ut/AP
Deraney said that Deraney was a kind, generous, and loving person. “Being famous is not what he wanted to do.” … He didn’t have an ounce of ego.”
Rich shared his mental health issues on Twitter. He noted that Rich had been sober for seven consecutive years. Rich admitted that he was not perfect, referring to his arrests, numerous stints in rehab and “countless detoxes(and) relapses”, and encouraged his nearly 19,000 followers never to give up.
Rich tweeted September that “Human beings were not built to endure mental illness.” Rich tweeted in September that “some people think those with mental illness are weak or lack willpower.” It’s completely absurd! To fight such diseases, it takes a strong person…a warrior if I may.
Rich shared a photo of himself in his glory days with Mickey Rooney, a former child star.
He tweeted, “Everyone used say to me, ‘You are the modern-day Mickey Rooney.'” “But Mickey Rooney said it to me, it meant a helluva lot more to me!”
Rich was nearly 27 years old when he participated in a hoax published by Might magazine about Rich being robbed outside a Los Angeles nightclub. Although the article was meant to be satire about America’s obsession with celebrities, it was discovered that the spoof was actually hilarious.
“I think that we were a bit too subtle.” Rich explained to the Chicago Tribune that people were not getting the joke. “I don’t want be dead.”
Rich was the TV’s little brother. He was the mop-top child of a newspaper columnist, played by Dick Van Patten. Rich must raise eight children on his own after his wife (and the actress who played him) died during filming the first season.
Rich starred from 1981 to 1982 in the series Code Red and voiced Presto the Magician from 1983 to 1985 on Dungeons & Dragons, according IMDB.com. His most well-known role was recast in two Eight is Enough TV movie remembrances.
His acting career consisted of single-episode roles on some of the most popular TV programs of the time, including The Love Boat and Six Million Dollar Man. Silver Spoons and Baywatch. The most recent credit he has on IMDB is his role as Crocodile Duncane on Comedy 2003.
