Alan Thicke

Alan Thicke, born Alan Willis Jeffrey (March 1, 1947 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian actor, songwriter, game show host and talk-show emcee. Throughout the late 1980s to early 1990s, he was most famous as Jason Seaver, the patriarch on the ABC television series Growing Pains, which also starred Joanna Kerns and Kirk Cameron.

Related Topics:
March 1 - 1947 - Kirkland Lake, Ontario - Canada - Actor - Songwriter - Game show - 1980s - 1990s - Patriarch - ABC - Growing Pains - Joanna Kerns - Kirk Cameron

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He graduated from Elliot Lake High School in 1965 as homecoming king. He attended the University of Western Ontario and worked as a disc jockey while in university.

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Elliot Lake - High School - 1965 - Homecoming - University of Western Ontario - Disc jockey

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Thicke composed the original theme song to Wheel of Fortune (1975), titled Big Wheels, which was used until 1983. Among other game show themes, he also composed The Diamond Head Game (1974) and Whew! (1979). Thicke not only composed but sang the theme for The Wizard of Odds, a 1973 NBC game show he also produced and that was the U.S. television debut of fellow Canadian Alex Trebek.

Related Topics:
Wheel of Fortune - 1983 - Game show - The Diamond Head Game - Whew! - The Wizard of Odds - Alex Trebek

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Outside of daytime TV, Thicke also composed (with then-wife Gloria Loring) the themes to the NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and its spinoff The Facts of Life.

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Gloria Loring - Diff'rent Strokes - The Facts of Life

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A clip of what appeared to be a Thicke-hosted Canadian game show from the early '70s, Face the Music, was screened when Thicke was a guest on Later with Bob Costas. In 1997 he also hosted a television version of the board game Pictionary, and in the early 2000s he hosted All New 3's a Crowd on Game Show Network.

Related Topics:
Face the Music - Bob Costas - 1997 - Board game - Pictionary - All New 3's a Crowd - Game Show Network

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He has also written songs for various singers including Marc Anthony, Christina Aguilera, Mya, Brian McKnight, and Pink.

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Marc Anthony - Christina Aguilera - Mya - Brian McKnight - Pink

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Thicke was also the host of his own popular talk show in Canada during the early 1980s called The Alan Thicke Show which was followed by an unsuccessful American version entitled Thicke of the Night, and was also on American television series Hope and Gloria, which lasted only 35 episodes. In 2004, Thicke hosted the Miss Universe Canada pageant.

Related Topics:
Talk show - 1980s - The Alan Thicke Show - Thicke of the Night - American - Television series - Hope and Gloria - Episode - Miss Universe Canada

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