Conrad Bain, a veteran stage and film actor who became a star in middle age as the kindly white adoptive father of two young African-American brothers in the TV sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” has died at age 89. Bain died Monday of natural causes in his hometown of Livermore, California, according to his daughter, Jennifer Bain.

“Diff’rent Strokes” debuted on NBC in 1978, and featured standout child actor Gary Coleman. Bain played wealthy Manhattan widower Philip Drummond, who promised his dying housekeeper he would raise her sons, played by Coleman and Todd Bridges.

Race and class relations became topics on the show as much as the typical trials of growing up.

In 1945, Bain married artist Monica Sloan, who died in 2009. He is survived by three children: Jennifer, Kent and Mark.

(via The Washington Post)