Eight Is Enough ran from March 1977 until August 1981 on ABC.
A comedy-drama from the producer's of The Waltons, Eight Is Enough was based on the autobiography of Washington Columnist Tom Braden. Set in Sacramento, the hour series focused on a family with eight very independent children, aged 8 to 23.
When the show began, the family's father, Tom Bradford ( Dick Van Patten), was a newspaper columnist for the Sacramento, California Register, and Joan ( Diana Hyland), was his wife of 25 years. Even Tom and Joan had trouble keeping track of all the kids and had to come up with the phrase " Never try eating nectorines since juice may dispense" to remember the names of Nicholas(5)( Adam Rich), Tommy (14) ( Willie Aames), Elizabeth (15) ( Connie Needham ( Newton)), Nancy ( 18) ( Dianne Kay), Susan ( 19) ( Susan Richardson), Joannie ( 20) ( Laurie Walters), Mary ( 21) ( Lani O'Grady, sister of My 3 Sons star Don Grady), and David ( 23) ( Grant Goodeve).Obviously such a large family didn't stay bored for long and in the pilot episode alone, David Moved out, young Nicholas got his tonsils removed, and Elizabeth was arrested for possession of narcotics. Sadly things changed when actress Diana Hyland suddenly died during production of the spring 1977 episodes. Hyland had only completed four episodes and was written out of the remaining season as being "away." When the series returned with new episodes that fall, Tom Bradford had become a widower - with the viewers finding out that his wife had died about "a year ago."
With the help of his best friend, Doc Maxwell ( Michael Thoma), Tom kept the whole family in check while re-entering the dating world. He soon found romance with a pretty school teacher named Abby( Betty Buckley), who came to the Bradford home to tutor one of the kids. Their romance blossomed, and, on a two-hour special broadcast on November 9, 1977, Tom and Abby were married.
As the series progressed, Abby got her Ph.D. in education and began counseling work at Memorial High. The Bradford kids all became involved with friends and romances, and, in a special episode in September 1979, David and Susan each got married. In a double wedding, David got married to attorney Janet ( Joan Prather), and Susan to pro baseball pitcher Merle "The Pearl" Stockwell( Brian Patrick Clarke), who later signed with the New York Mets. David then went to work for a construction firm, while Susan gave birth to the first Bradford grandchild - Sandra Sue, born in October 1980. Joannie got a job at a television station, and became engaged to Jeffrey Trout ( Nicholas Pryor).
A few more notes: In the pilot episode only Mark Hammill ( of Star Wars fame), played David; Kimberly Beck played Nancy; and Chris English played Tommy.
Most of the gang was reunited for Tom's 50th birthday in Eight Is Enough: A Family Reunion shown on October 18, 1987 on NBC. Van Patten and all 8 kids returned while Mary Frann ( Of Newhart), played Abby. The clan gathered again to celebrate eldest son David's second marriage on An Eight Is Enough Wedding telecast on October 15, 1989, on NBC. This time the honors of playing Abby went to Sandy Faison, and Merle was played by Dick Van Patten's son, James Van Patten.
LOS ANGELES - Lani O'Grady, who played Mary, the strong, self-confident eldest daughter on the television series "Eight Is Enough," has died. She was 46.
O'Grady, a talent agent, was found dead Tuesday in her mobile home in Valencia, north of Los Angeles. Authorities say O'Grady apparently died of natural causes. The coroner's office said a post-mortem examination is pending.
O'Grady was the daughter of Mary Grady, one of Hollywood's top children's agents. Her brother was Don Grady, one of the original Mousketeers and a co-star of the 1960s TV comedy "My Three Sons."
It was while visiting her brother on the "My Three Sons" set when she was 6 that O'Grady began thinking of following in his footsteps.
In a 1994 interview with the Los Angeles Times, O'Grady recalled that when the show's star, Fred MacMurray, heard her naturally low voice, he turned around and said, "Who said that?"
She looked up at the towering MacMurray and said, "I did, sir." MacMurray responded by saying, "Boy, you ought to be in the business."
Aware of the emotional toll on child actors, Mary Grady never pushed her daughter into acting. But when Lani was 13, her mother finally gave in to her persistent requests to be sent on an audition.
After reading a two-line bit for "High Chaparral," she won the lead role in the episode. O'Grady never looked back, working constantly as a teen-ager.
Born Lanita Rose Agrati in Walnut Grove, she changed her name to Lani O'Grady after landing her role in "Eight Is Enough," a comedy-drama that starred Dick Van Patten as the newspaper columnist father of eight children. The series ran from 1977 to 1981.
In a 1994 Times interview, O'Grady said she had long suffered from severe panic attacks, which led to her abusing prescription drugs and alcohol for more than a decade .
Although fans were never aware of it, O'Grady said, the attacks caused her to run to her dressing room frequently to pop a Valium. She said she once shook so much during a scene that she had to be driven home.
Although she began experiencing panic attacks at 18, O'Grady said, she was not diagnosed with panic disorder until she was 21. Over the years, she said, she saw 32 doctors, most of whom prescribed various tranquilizers.
After the series ended, O'Grady said, she was in and out of five rehabilitation clinics.
The lowest point in her long struggle with panic attacks, she said, came in 1993, when agoraphobia kept her at home, and her body was so filled with toxins from abusing prescription drugs and alcohol that she was experiencing memory blackouts.
But in 1994, she began being treated with a non-narcotic medication for what was diagnosed as a brain chemical imbalance.
The treatment, she said at the time, made all the difference in the world.
"I have a life today," she said.
In December 1998, however, O'Grady checked herself into a Los Angeles hospital to detoxify from a prescription drug.
Although many child stars bitterly complain about the drawbacks of growing up in show business, O'Grady was not one of them.
"I have a real hard time with people who have been successful in this business as young children ... and (as adults) they are no longer wanted by Hollywood - and, yeah, Hollywood is not a user-friendly place," she said in 1994.
"But rather than accepting responsibility for their life, it's easier to say, 'The business is the reason I'm so messed up today.' I hate that."
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