Your Top Five TV Dads

I put this on this board because most of my favorites are of this era,but you can enter for any decade.

1. Tom Corbett (Bill Bixby)in The Courtship Of Eddie's Father
Here was a caring,patient father who always made time for his needy son.My favorite mostly because of the great chemistry Bixby had with TV son Brandon Cruz.

2. Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont)in Leave It To Beaver
He has often been criticized for being just a preachy dad,but he was actually a pretty well rounded character. He could be funny or sometimes impatient as well as preachy. I also recall in one episode he admitted he was wrong and apologized to the Beaver.

3. Alex Stone (Carl Betz)in The Donna Reed Show
He was a strong male character even though matched against Oscar winner Reed.There was great sexual chemistry between the two,even with strict TV standards, you could tell they were hot for each other. Plus Betz gives one of the best TV Dad moments when he hears his son Jeff sing "My Dad"

4. Martin Lane (William Schallert)in The Patty Duke Show
Schallert is one of the best and most versatile character actors in TV history,althought this is probably the role he is best known for. He can play just the right amount of tenderness and exasperation when dealing with wacky daughter Patty and sophisticated niece Cathy.

5. Danny Williams (Danny Thomas)in Make Room For Daddy
While other TV Dads were calm and soft spoken,here was a loud character who was constantly yelling. I thought he was one of the funniest Dads on TV, great chemistry with wise cracking son Rusty