William Loud, who along with his wife and kids starred in the PBS reality series “An American Family” in the early 1970s, died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97.
He was surrounded by all surviving members of his family as “he slipped out peacefully, in his sleep,” the Louds’ official Facebook page said.
“Husband, father, entrepreneur, and veteran of WWII and the Korean Conflict, his intelligence, creativity and enthusiasm carried him across the world. He was a generous provider, a great storyteller, and a truly gentle man. If you never met him or only knew him from television...you missed a lot.”
But television is where Loud and his family became household names when, from May 30 to Dec. 31, 1971, a TV filmed them around the clock – the footage of which was then edited into 12 episodes airing on PBS in 1973.
Featured were Loud; his wife, Pat; his sons, Lance, Kevin and Grant; and his daughters, Delilah Ann and Michele.
The show chronicled everyday life, but also captured plenty of family drama, including the parents separating and son Lance coming out of the closet. Lance died in 2001 of liver failure as a result of hepatitis C and a co-infection with HIV.
“An American Family,” considered the nation’s first reality TV series, drew some 10 million viewers and was followed by a sequel, “An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later.” It was also dramatized in an HBO movie, “Cinema Verite,” starring James Gandolfini and Tim Robbins.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his name to The Rescue Train, a non-profit, no-kill organization “dedicated to eliminating animal suffering and euthanasia through hands-on rescue work, dedication to spay/neuter, education and awareness.”
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