(CNN) The role of psychiatrist and father Jason Seaver on "Growing Pains" was the best gig Alan Thicke almost didn't get.

The TV star recounted the story of his casting on the sitcom in a 2011 interview

When ABC sought out to fill roles on "Growing Pains" in the early 1980s, he explained, the network first looked at a few emerging young actors. Thicke was one. Another? Bruce Willis.

"So I guess there would've been a chance that I would have been in 'Moonlighting' and Bruce Willis would have been [the family's] dad," he said.

In hindsight, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Thicke, who died Tuesday, in Jason Seaver's shoes.