Child star’s death rocks Hollywood: ‘Why the show was a big success’

Adam Rich — best known for starring on the show Eight is Enough — has been found dead in his Los Angeles area home.

Adam Rich, best known for starring in Eight Is Enough, has died. He was 54.

The actor died Saturday at his Los Angeles area home, a family member confirmed to TMZ.

A cause of death has yet to be revealed but there was reportedly no foul play, a law enforcement source told the outlet, adding that Rich was found lifeless by an unidentified person who came to his residence.

Page Six has reached out to Rich’s rep for comment.

Adam Rich was 54.

Born October 12, 1968 in Brooklyn, New York, Rich rose to fame in the ’70s after portraying Nicholas Bradford, the youngest son of the Bradford brood, on Eight Is Enough.

The ABC show, which also starred Dick Van Patten, Lani O’Grady, Connie Needham, Grant Goodeve and more, ran from 1977 to 1981.

Thank you all for reaching out regarding Adam Rich.

If you knew Adam, you just loved the guy. And oh the stories he could tell.

Here is my statement: pic.twitter.com/3OITGnESuf

— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) January 8, 2023

“I think he’s why the show was a big success,” Van Patten, who died in 2015, said of his former co-star in a 2011 interview with Stephen J. Abramson for the Television Academy Foundation.

“People loved him! (Fans) named a child Nicholas and everything because of him,” he added. “He was cute, and he was a good actor. He was very natural.”

Former child actor Adam Rich appears in a Los Angeles court in 1992.

Rich’s other TV credits include Code Red, Dungeons & Dragons, Small Wonder, St. Elsewhere and Baywatch.

Outside of acting, Rich also made headlines over the years due to substance abuse struggles. He was arrested in 1991 for smashing a pharmacy window to obtain drugs – and was bailed out by his former TV dad, Van Patten.

Following years spent in and out of rehab, Rich was arrested again in 2002 on charges of driving under the influence after nearly striking a California Highway Patrol car.

Per CBS News, Rich denied the charges at the time, telling reporters, “I’ve been sober for 10 years”.

This article was originally published by Page Six and reproduced with permission

Originally published as Child star’s death rocks Hollywood: ‘Why the show was a big success’