Van Patten grew up as the youngest son of the actor Dick Van Patten . After appearing in commercials at a young age, he starred in numerous television series as a child actor in the 1970s, including Bonanza , Smoking Guns and Wonder Woman . From 1974 to 1975 he was one of the main characters in the series Apple's Way ; However, this was canceled after 28 episodes. Another short-lived series with only 13 episodes followed in 1975 with Three for the Road . Occasionally he also made appearances in feature films, including the musical comedy Rock 'n' Roll High School . In the late 1970s, Van Patten focused on tennis and was rarely active as an actor in the 1980s.
In high school, Van Patten was not initially considered an outstanding talent; so he was never named to the All-American leaderboard . At the age of 18, he focused more on his game and subsequently won numerous victories on the lower-class Satellite Tour . After he finally made it into the Top 100, he was honored with the ATP Newcomer of the Year Award in 1979, relegating Ivan Lendl to second place. The following year he was in the final of the Grand Prix tournament in São Paulo , which he lost to Wojciech Fibak . In 1981 he won the indoor tournament in Tokyo. After beating Vitas Gerulaitis and John McEnroe ( first in the world ranking at the time ) on the way to the final , he triumphed in three sets against Australian Mark Edmondson . He reached a final final on the professional tour in 1983 in Maui , where he was defeated by Scott Davis in three sets. Van Patten performed successfully in doubles between 1983 and 1987 with Brad Gilbert . Together they won the 1986 title at the Boca West tournament without a fight after Stefan Edberg and Anders Järryd failed to compete in the final .
Van Patten achieved his highest ranking in the tennis world rankings in 1981 with position 24 in singles and 1986 with position 24 in doubles. His best individual result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the third round at Wimbledon in 1985, and at the US Open in 1982 and 1983. In the doubles competition, he reached the quarter-finals of the French Open in 1981 on the side of Mel Purcell . In mixed he made it to the round of 16 at the US Open in 1981 and the French Open in 1985.
After numerous injuries, Van Patten decided to withdraw from professional tennis in 1986 and returned to show business. Among other things, he played the recurring role of Dr. Tom Morella in the series Baywatch - The Lifeguards of Malibu , as well as Christian Page in 12 episodes of the soap opera Shadow of Passion . Van Patten commented on the World Poker Tour (WPT) for 16 years . His father had already worked in this role between 1993 and 1995. He himself played u. a. several times at the World Series of Poker and the WPT Main Event . Overall, he won prize money of more than 100,000 US dollars .
United States
Tokyo
Mark Edmondson
Stefan Edberg Anders Järryd