Adam Rich, Former 'Eight Is Enough' Child Star, Dies At 54

Former "Eight Is Enough" child star Adam Rich passes away at age 54.

Adam Rich, a young actor best known for playing "America's younger brother" on the television series Eight Is Enough, has passed away. He was 54.

According to Lt. Aimee Earl of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Coroner's Office, Rich passed away on Saturday at his residence in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Despite being under investigation, the cause of death was not seen to be suspicious.

After appearing as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of eight children, in the ABC blockbuster drama that aired from 1977 to 1981, Rich had a limited acting career.

He sought therapy at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage after having numerous encounters with the police involving drugs and alcohol.

According to publicist Danny Deraney, Rich battled an untreatable form of depression and made an effort to de-stigmatize talking about mental illness. Over time, he attempted many experimental treatments without result.

Deraney claimed that in recent weeks, when they couldn't get in touch with Rich, they were concerned.

According to Deraney, "He was just a very nice, generous, and loving soul." Being a well-known actor was not necessarily what he aspired to be, and he had absolutely no ego.

Rich shared information about his mental health on Twitter and revealed that he had been sober for seven years in October. He acknowledged his flaws—arrests, several rehab stays, multiple overdoses, and "countless detoxes (and) relapses"—and implored his nearly 19,000 followers to never give up.

Rich tweeted in September that "human beings weren't intended to tolerate mental illness." That some people view them as weak or lacking in willpower is utterly absurd—the contrary is true! Such disorders require a very, very strong person—a warrior, if you will—to combat them."

Rich uploaded a photo of himself with former kid star Mickey Rooney during his glory days.

"You are the modern-day Mickey Rooney," everyone used to say to me," "But after hearing from Mickey Rooney that meant a helluva lot more to me than anything he did!"

Rich took part in a scam that Might magazine perpetrated over 27 years ago about the actor being slain in a heist outside a Los Angeles bar in 1996. The article in the obscure journal was meant to be a satire on America's fascination with celebrities, but it failed when the joke was discovered.

"I believe we were a bit too subdued," Rich later admitted to the Chicago Tribune that "people were not grasping the joke." I say, "I don't want to die."

Rich played the mop-top son of a newspaper columnist played by Dick Van Patten, who has raise eight children by himself when his wife in the show—and the actress—died, to a generation of TV viewers.

According to IMDB.com, Rich played the role of Presto the Magician on Dungeons & Dragons from 1983 to 1985 and was a cast member of the television show Code Red from 1981 to 1982. In two Eight Is Enough TV movie reunions, he played his most well-known role once again.

However, he spent the majority of his acting career making one-off cameos on some of the most well-liked TV series of the time, including Baywatch, The Love Boat, The Six Million Dollar Man, Silver Spoons, and The Love Boat. His 2003 performance as Crocodile Dundee on Reel Comedy is his most recent credit on IMDB.