Take a look back to the 1970s, a period when TV dads changed from flawless, white pipe-smoking stereotypes to real, funny, and sometimes annoying men who were very much like humans. These TV parents were not always the most fashionable, but they were the type that stayed with you. They lectured, got into hot water, and addressed the chaos of family life in a manner heretofore unseen by the audience. Here is a glimpse at 15 of the greatest dads of 1970s television—guys who left their mark not just on popular culture but on our vision of fatherhood on television.
15. James Evans Sr. (Good Times)
James Evans Sr. was also played by John Amos, a father who had strength and affection balanced within him. He worked a series of jobs, fought to keep his family intact, and insisted on dignity as his number-one priority. James brought an added awareness of strength and perseverance to many families who watched the TV show.
14. John Walton Sr. (The Waltons)
Ralph Waite’s John Walton Sr. was stability in the midst of turmoil. Running a sawmill and having seven kids during the Great Depression, he was tradition and encouragement combined, particularly in subsidizing John-Boy’s writing career. He never glamorized, but his rock-solid reliability could fill books.
13. Fred Sanford (Sanford and Son)
Redd Foxx’s Fred Sanford was the king of rapid-fire one-liners and potshot scripted heart attacks, but beneath the bluster, there was a father who loved his son, Lamont. The insults shouted in the junkyard not only elicited laughs and a sense of soul but also broached issues such as race, class, and generation gaps.
12. Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch)
As the patriarch of television’s most iconic mixed family, Robert Reed Mike Brady was forever a voice of reason in the midst of the most chaotic moments. With much patience, serenity, and an affection for living-room family brawls, he demonstrated that new-fangled fatherhood was less about commanding and more about listening.
11. Archie Bunker (All in the Family)
Archie Bunker of Carroll O’Connor was the antithesis of all stereotypes. He was opinionated, stubborn, and often pushing-pokes—yet the quintessence of being human. Ultimately, Archie’s path of growth brought people to acknowledge their prejudices and embrace change, and he emerged as one of the TV dads most rich in depth and complexity.
10. Howard Cunningham (Happy Days)
“Mr. C” of Tom Bosley was a guy we would typically term small-town sweet. Running his store and juggling his kids—and even introducing the iconic Fonzie as a family member—Howard showed us that fatherhood is largely about various roles, shifts, and unreserved love.
9. George Jefferson (The Jeffersons)
Sherman Hemsley swaggered and shone as George Jefferson, the man who relocated his family “on up” to the East Side. Brash, mouthy George was a humble-hearted working father deep down who struggled with how to contribute to supporting his son, Lione,l, and wife, Lou, the best.
8. Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show)
Andy Griffith’s Sheriff Taylor was the quintessential father: reasonable, kind, and yet very much a man of his word. As a single father to Opie, he established the moral standard, teaching by “catching” lessons, soft words, and an “always try to be decent” approach.
7. Steve Douglas (My Three Sons)
Fred MacMurray, Steve Douglas were the epitome of the strength of silence. He brought his three sons (Ernie was adopted later) up by and large alone after his wife passed away. He was a man of integrity, at home as well as at the office, demonstrating in his actions that family is not about biology but about love and devotion.
6. Ben Cartwright (Bonanza)
Lorne Greene’s Ben Cartwright ruled the Ponderosa with humanity and integrity. With three such dissimilar sons, he was the epitome of integrity and justice and employed his position to wrestle with issues of humanity and justice.
5. Tom Bradford (Eight Is Enough)
Dick Van Patten’s Tom Bradford showed what occurs when fatherhood and mayhem cross paths—eight kids’ worth of mayhem, in his case. His warmth, sense of humor, and willingness to roll with the punches of life’s unpredictability enabled him to become a genial and down-to-earth TV dad.
4. Captain Merrill Stubing (The Love Boat)
Gavin MacLeod’s Captain Stubing was commanding a cruise ship, but he was also navigating his daughter Vicki and the crew of the ship with the fatherhood of a man. His mixture of hardness and softness proved that to be a father is to be bloodless by relation.
3. Ted Baxter (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
First, Ted Knight’s Ted Baxter was just a self-absorbed news anchorman. But later flashbacks of him at home showed a kinder side to him, showing that even the most comedic TV dads were complex as a father.
2. Philip Banks (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
James Avery’s Uncle Phil formally joined in the 1990s but left a lasting legacy. He was strict when the situation required it, paternal when the need arose, and set a new benchmark for TV representations of Black fathers. Uncle Phil’s impact went far beyond laugh-out-loud sitcoms.
1. Cliff Huxtable (The Cosby Show)
As Dr. Cliff Huxtable, Bill Cosby developed a father who was funny and wise, patient and playful. Cliff was serious about life when it involved devotion, but he addressed the challenges of life with his children with class and compassion. He developed the archetypal modern TV dad and raised the standard for generations to come.
These 1970s TV dads weren’t ancillary characters—they built homes on TV and assisted viewers in building concepts about dads in their own homes. From Archie Bunker screaming in his armchair, Mike Brady handing out wisdom, or James Evans trying to keep his family whole, these men set the decade in motion while enduring a legacy that is still relevant today.