Don Grady | 'My Three Sons' star, 68

Posted: June 30, 2012

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Don Grady, 68, who was one of television's most beloved big brothers as Robbie Douglas on the long-running 1960s hit My Three Sons, died Wednesday.

His My Three Sons costar Barry Livingston, who played youngest brother Ernie, confirmed Mr. Grady's death to the Associated Press. Livingston said Mr. Grady had cancer and had been receiving hospice care at his home in Thousand Oaks. But the exact cause and place of death were not immediately clear.

Born in San Diego as Don Louis Agrati, Mr. Grady had a brief stint singing and dancing on The Mickey Mouse Club starting at age 13.

But he was best known as one of Fred MacMurray's three sons on the series that ran on ABC and later CBS from 1960 to 1972. The popular show, which featured MacMurray as a widowed aeronautical engineer struggling to raise his boys, was among the longest running family sitcoms of all time with 380 episodes.

In the show's earlier years, Mr. Grady was the middle brother, with Tim Considine playing the oldest, Mike, and Stanley Livingston playing the youngest, Chip. When Considine departed, Barry Livingston became the adopted "third" son, and Mr. Grady became the cool, handsome, and assured eldest brother that much of America adored.

Mr. Grady made a handful of guest appearances on TV series in the 1970s and 1980s, but he worked primarily as a musician and composer, writing the theme for The Phil Donahue Show and music for the Blake Edwards film Switch. - AP

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