--- title: Read Leonardo DiCaprio's Reflection on Alan Thicke description: The Oscar winner acted in 1991 with the late actor on a season of TV sitcom 'Growing Pains,' where DiCaprio played a homeless teen. canonical: https://time.com/4603369/leonardo-dicaprio-on-alan-thicke/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-15T15:45:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:30.917Z og:title: Read Leonardo DiCaprio's Reflection on TV Dad Alan Thicke og:description: The Oscar winner acted early on with Thicke in the sitcom 'Growing Pains.' og:url: https://time.com/4603369/leonardo-dicaprio-on-alan-thicke/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780cc51b5d5f1621/6988b31aab6d7727556ac45e/growing-pains-cast.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: JEREMY MILLER;TRACEY GOLD;KIRK CAMERON;ASHLEY JOHNSON;JOANNA KERNS;ALAN THICKE;LEONARDO DICAPRIO og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Leonardo DiCaprio's Reflection on TV Dad Alan Thicke twitter:description: The Oscar winner acted early on with Thicke in the sitcom 'Growing Pains.' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780cc51b5d5f1621/6988b31aab6d7727556ac45e/growing-pains-cast.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Leonardo DiCaprio's Moving Reflection on His _Growing Pains_ TV Dad Alan Thicke ## Video: A Look Back at Some Memorable Moments From Alan Thicke's Career [Watch (HLS stream): A Look Back at Some Memorable Moments From Alan Thicke's Career](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z9CARJz3.m3u8) (1:03)  _Published 2016-12-14. Alan Thicke, "Growing Pains" star, dies at 69_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Dec 15, 2016 3:45 PM UTC  GROWING PAINS - Gallery - Shoot Date: September 28, 1991. GROWING PAINS - Gallery - Shoot Date: September 28, 1991.ABC Photo Archives—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Dec 15, 2016 3:45 PM UTC [Leonardo DiCaprio](http://time.com/4298225/leonardo-dicaprio-2016-time-100/?iid=sr-link1) may only have appeared on ABC sitcom _Growing Pains_ for one season as a child actor, but the Oscar winner had heartfelt things to say about his [beloved on-screen dad](http://time.com/4601209/alan-thicke-death-reaction-celebrities-twitter/?iid=sr-link2), Alan Thicke, who [passed away Tuesday.](http://time.com/4601207/alan-thicke-growing-pains-actor-obituary/?iid=sr-link1) In a Facebook post, DiCaprio reflected on the impact that Thicke had on him as a young actor just getting started in his path to stardom. “He knew how to harness the power of the entertainment industry to be a positive influence in so many lives – including mine,” DiCaprio wrote. “I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I had to work with Alan early in my career. He had tremendous class, a huge heart, and he taught me and so many others the valuable lessons about humility and gratitude. I’ve seen him a number of times over the years and when Alan Thicke walked in the room, quite frankly, no one was cooler.” On the show, which ran from 1985 to 1992, DiCaprio played a homeless teen that the classic suburban Seaver family decides to take in. He would go on to achieve acclaim in his breakout role in [_What’s Eating Gilbert Grape_.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4603369/leonardo-dicaprio-on-alan-thicke/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4603369/leonardo-dicaprio-on-alan-thicke/"},"headline":"Read Leonardo DiCaprio's Moving Reflection on His Growing Pains TV Dad Alan Thicke","datePublished":"2016-12-15T15:45:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:30.917Z","description":"\"When Alan Thicke walked in the room, quite frankly, no one was cooler.\"","url":"https://time.com/4603369/leonardo-dicaprio-on-alan-thicke/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780cc51b5d5f1621/6988b31aab6d7727556ac45e/growing-pains-cast.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt780cc51b5d5f1621/6988b31aab6d7727556ac45e/growing-pains-cast.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"JEREMY MILLER;TRACEY GOLD;KIRK CAMERON;ASHLEY JOHNSON;JOANNA KERNS;ALAN THICKE;LEONARDO DICAPRIO","caption":"JEREMY MILLER;TRACEY GOLD;KIRK CAMERON;ASHLEY JOHNSON;JOANNA KERNS;ALAN THICKE;LEONARDO DICAPRIO","creditText":"ABC Photo Archives—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4603369/leonardo-dicaprio-on-alan-thicke/","name":"Read Leonardo DiCaprio's Moving Reflection on His Growing Pains TV Dad Alan Thicke"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Look Back at Some Memorable Moments From Alan Thicke's Career","description":"Alan Thicke, \"Growing Pains\" star, dies at 69","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/z9CARJz3/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-14T15:38:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/z9CARJz3.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4603369/leonardo-dicaprio-on-alan-thicke/","duration":"PT1M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4603369/leonardo-dicaprio-on-alan-thicke/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```