Burbank, California
Alan Willis Jeffrey Thicke grew up wanting to be either a minister or a doctor. After attending the University of Western Ontario, he graduated in English and Psychology before beginning his show biz career as an all-night radio disc jockey. He later moved to writing and was hired to crank out comedy material for the CBC. Believing his future was in writing and in Hollywood, he headed south and soon became a writer on the syndicated Norman Lear series Fernwood 2-Night. He also wrote for some of the biggest names on TV at that time including Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor, Bobby Darin, Kenny Rogers, Olivia Newton-John, Anne Murray and Barry Manilow. In 1980 an opportunity to host his own daytime talkshow had opened up at home, so Thicke returned to Canada. While nothing special he drew the attention of former NBC executive Fred Silverman who hired him to star in Silverman`s first non-network effort, a nighttime variety show titled Thicke of the Night. Despite the pre-launch publicity, or perhaps because expectations were raised so high, the show turned out to be less than impressive. He tried his hand at acting and had some early success, but it in 1985 he turned up in the sitcom Growing Pains as psychiatrist Jason Seaver. It would run until 1994, establishing him as a highly bankable TV star. When not acting and writing, he composes music and has written theme songs for several TV series, including The Facts of Life, Diff’rent Strokes and Wheel of Fortune. More recently, Thicke starred in the film I Don’t Care and It’s Not My Fault Anyway, which premiered on December 2 at the Whistler Film Festival in British Columbia. It was reported that Thicke died in hospital of a heart attack he had suffered while playing hockey with his son.
Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
Copper Mountain (1983)
Calendar Girl Murders (TV-1984)
Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star (1986)
Hitting Home (TV-1987)
Obsessed (1988)
14 Going on 30 (TV-1988)
Dance ’til Dawn (TV-1988)
Not Quite Human II (TV-1989)
The Great America Sex Scandal (TV-1990)
And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird (1991)
The Trial of Little Red Riding Hood (TV-1992)
Still Not Quite Human (TV-1992)
Stepmonster (1993)
Betrayal of the Dove (1993)
Rubdown (TV-1993)
Windsor Protocol (TV-1996)
Thunder Point (TV-1996)
Demolition High (1996)
Open Season (1996)
Shadow of the Bear (TV-1997)
Any Place But Home (TV-1997)
Anarchy TV (1997)
Casper Meets Wendy (TV-1998)
Ice Angel (TV-2000)
Intimate Portrait: Joanna Kerns (TV-2000)
The Growing Pains Movie (TV-2000)
Bear With Me (2000)
Hollywood North (2003)
Carolina (2003)
Raising Helen (2004)
Childstar (2004)
Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers (TV-2004)
The Surfer King (2005)
Alpha Dog (2006)
A Little Light (2006)
The Singing Office (host, TV-2007)
RoboDoc (2008)
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)
Making a Scene (TV-2010)
That’s My Boy (2012)
Father-Son Chat with Alan Thicke (2012, short)
Hemingway (2012)
Sperm Donar (2012, short)
Notes from Dad (TV-2013)
Cubicle Warriors (2013)
Let It Snow (TV-2013)
Bad Management (TV-2013)
Camp Sunshine (TV-2013)
A Cookie Cutter Christmas (TV-2014)
Wish Upon a Christmas (TV-2015)
It’s Not My Fault and I Don’t Care Anyway (2015)
TV Series – Cast:
The Alan Thicke Show (1980-1983)
Thicke of the Night (1983)
Growing Pains (1985-1994)
Animal Crack-Ups (1987-1990)
Travelquest (1992)
Hope & Gloria (1995)
Pictionary (1997)
Three’s a Crowd (2000)
Animal Miracles (2001)
JPod (2008)
I’m in the Band (2011)
Northernstars.ca is published by the Canadian Independent Visual
and Digital Media Association – A nonprofit corporation.
Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1X7
First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895