Top 10 TV Dads

The recent death of actor Tom Bosley, known for his portrayal of Howard Cunningham the fictitious dad from the classic TV series "Happy Days," prompts a look at the Top 10 TV Dads in TV history.

Top TV Dad #10
Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver - "Leave It to Beaver." The laconic sweater-wearing dad of early 1960s TV, Beaumont never seemed to fluster at the antics of his TV sons, Wally and Beaver.

Top TV Dad #9
Robert Reed as Mike Brady - "The Brady Bunch." Reed's blended Brady family reflected American culture and the changing face of TV as the 1960s progressed. A dad to three of his own sons and three step-daughters, Mike Brady was a work-at-home dad always ready to dispense homespun common sense advice.

Top TV Dad #8
Robert Young as Jim Anderson - "Father Knows Best." The only character on this top TV dad list that made the transition from radio to TV in the 1950s. Here was the post-war baby boom America in all of its ordinariness. A perfect family living a happy, well-adjusted life.

Top TV Dad #7
Bill Bixby as Tom Corbett - "The Courtship of Eddie's Father." Another 1960s example of a TV dad reflecting changes in American family structures. Bixby played a single dad raising his son while juggling the demands of a reemerging social life.

Top TV Dad #6
Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright - "Bonanza." Another single dad with a long-running TV show, but here was a man running a ranch with his TV family. The three sons - each with a different mother - couldn't have been more distinct, and Cartwright's sage parenting often won the day.

Top TV Dad #5
Fred MacMurray as Steven Douglas - "My Three Sons." Across a dozen years and two different TV networks, MacMurray raised his family - Mike, Robbie, Chip and Ernie - from TV kids to adulthood. With the help of Uncle Charley, of course, and the family's shaggy dog.

Top TV Dad #4
Homer Simpson as Homer Simpson - "The Simpsons." It may be cheating a little to include an animated character in a list of Top TV Dads, but no one played the role longer. In over 20 TV seasons, Homer endeared himself to viewers as the most hapless yet lovable dad in TV history.

Top TV Dad #3
Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable - "The Cosby Show." This TV dad defined a generation of sitcoms. The show anchored NBC's Must See TV" Thursday lineup and made the network a ratings powerhouse. Huxtable was a role model for Africa-American families who aspired to upper middle class lives.

Top TV Dad #2
Tom Bosley as Howard Cunningham - "Happy Days." Here was a 1970s TV dad playing the part of of a 1950s dad, with all the cliched expectations that two decades of TV dads had built. And Bosley played it perfectly, with a mix charm and befuddlement.

Top TV Dad #1
Ozzie Nelson as Ozzie Nelson - "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." This TV dad was the role model for all who followed - the TV dad archetype. Nelson played, well, himself, from 1952 to 1966 - with his TV dad role reflecting his real life dad role. Wife Harriet and sons Ricky and David played themselves.