Willie Aames and Adam Rich star in a 1977 episode of Eight Is Enough. (Photo: ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images)
Actors Willie Aames and Adam Rich played brothers on the ABC drama Eight is Enough for five seasons from 1977 to 1981. So Rich’s death on Saturday at the age of 54 hit Aames particularly hard.
“This morning Winnie woke me to the heartbreaking news of Adam Rich’s death. I’m disappointed,” he wrote on social media on Sunday. “Adam was more than a colleague. He was pretty much my only little brother. A lifelong friend. In recent years, Adam had dreamed of renewing his career. He was one of those child actors that our generation will always remember. I can’t tell you how many parents have told me they named their first child “Nicolas” after his “eight is enough” character. The dwindling brotherhood of children raised in the golden years of family television has lost another child of ours. I will miss him rest ‘AR’ – you were the cutest TV kid ever.”
In addition to the more than 100 episodes of Eight Is Enough they did together, Rich and Aames, 62, both appeared in a number of reunions on the series, including the 1989 TV movie Eight Is Enough Wedding. In the 1980’s Dungeons and Dragons animated film, which aired from 1983 to 1985, Rich voiced Presto the Magician while Aames provided the words for Hank the Ranger. They played themselves in the star-studded recording of the parody song “Child Stars on Your Television” in the 2003 film Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.
Rich’s cause of death was not disclosed. No foul play is reportedly suspected.
Another former Rich co-star, Betty Buckley, who played the brothers’ stepmother, also noted that she will miss him “very much.” She described Rich as “a light and my young pal for the four seasons I was blessed to work with on Eight Is Enough.”
“I adored him and loved working with him in our scenes together on the show,” she continued. “He was so sweet, funny, fresh and natural. He brought a lot of joy to all of us on the show and to our audience. Adam and I have remained friends through the years. His love and support have always meant a lot to me.”