Season 3 of "Gimme a Break" introduced Joey Donovan, a pint-sized con artist who became Nell's foster son. In Season 4, the pair traveled to the Crescent City for the two-part episode "New Orleans"; there, Joey ran into his father, a merchant seaman named Tim Donovan. Joey appeared to leave for Nome, Alaska with his father, but after a change of heart, he reunited with Nell at the end of "New Orleans Part 2."
Amiable character actor Fred McCarren played Tim Donovan in "New Orleans," though another actor, Patrick Collins, reprised the role for his return in Season 6. The Pennsylvania native, who at one point studied at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, began appearing in television commercials and episodic television series in the 1970s; occasional roles in features like "Xanadu," "The Star Chamber," and the cult horror favorite "The Boogens" followed in the 1980s.
McCarren relocated to Pennsylvania in the late 1980s to raise his six children with wife Lisa. There, he worked extensively in national and regional television and radio commercials. Diagnosed with cancer in the mid-2000s, he decided against treatment until undergoing surgery in 2006. McCarren ultimately died of colon cancer at the age of 55 on July 2, 2006.
