HENRY WINKLER The Fonz RON HOWARD Richie Cunningham

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
HENRY WINKLER
The Fonz
Around the time of Happy Days,
Winkler starred in films including
The Lords of Flatbush, in which he
played a Brooklyn gang member,
and Katherine, in which he played
a revolutionary terrorist. When
Happy Days came to an end, he
set up a television production
company and had a couple of smallscreen successes. As a director,
he was responsible for the 1988
film Memories of Me, starring Billy
Crystal, and 1993’s Cop and a Half,
starring Burt Reynolds. As an actor,
he has appeared in Wes Craven’s
Scream and The Waterboy with
Adam Sandler. Recent roles have
included a stint as Captain Hook
in Richmond in 2013 and as Barry
Zuckerkorn, the clumsy lawyer in
Arrested Development. He was
awarded an OBE for his work for
dyslexic children and has written 17
children’s books about a dyslexic boy
called Hank Zipzer. They have sold
over 22 million copies. He has three
30-something children with his wife,
Stacey Weitzman, and is the proud
grandfather of three.
RON HOWARD
Richie Cunningham
By the time, he landed the part of
Richie Cunningham in Happy Days,
Ron Howard was already a TV
veteran. He’d started his career as
a child actor, appearing in Frontier
Woman at just 18 months old and
taking regular roles from the age of
four. When he joined Happy Days at
the age of 19, he had a long list of
credits behind him. Until the Fonz
rose in popularity and status, the
idea had been to build Happy Days
around the character of Richie; in the
end, Howard had to make do with
equal billing. While Happy Days was
still on air, he appeared in the John
Wayne western The Shootist, for
which he received a Golden Globe
nomination, but his real ambition
was to be a film director. This he
achieved to great acclaim. Credits
behind the camera include The
Grinch, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13
and Parenthood. His 1982 movie
Night Shift starred a certain Henry
Winkler, who is godfather to his four
children.
SCOTT BAIO
Chachi Arcola
Just 16 when he joined Happy Days
in 1977, playing the Fonz’s cousin,
Baio had already made his mark in
the lead role of Bugsy Malone, the
gangster movie filmed with a cast
of children. He clocked up further
films and sitcoms while Happy Days
was on air and followed up with
a lead role in Charles in Charge,
a US sitcom that ran until 1990.
Since then, he’s had several less
high-profile roles, including Dr Jack
Steart in Diagnosis: Murder. He has
sometimes been better known for
his string of off-screen romances
with the likes of Pamela Anderson
and Brooke Shields, a reputation
he capitalised on with Scott Baio
Is 45…and Single, a 2007 reality
TV series that focused on his failed
relationships. After he found out he
was going to become a father, he
returned with Scott Baio Is 46…
and Pregnant. Most recently, he has
starred in three series of the sitcom
See Dad Run, which, in one episode,
featured Happy Days creator, Garry
Marshall, playing his TV dad.
SPIN-OFFS
In series five of Happy Days, an
unknown street theatre artist
called Robin Williams made a guest
appearance on the show. He made
such an impression as a space alien
called Mork from the planet Ork
that he was given his own spin-off
series, Mork and Mindy. Before long,
Williams was on the Hollywood
A-list.
Another US hit was Laverne &
Shirley, a sitcom starring two of the
Fonz’s friends about their life working
in a brewery from the late 50s to
the late 60s. Laverne was played by
Penny Marshall, acclaimed director
of A League of Their Own and Big
and sister of Garry Marshall.
Less successful was Joanie Loves
Chachi, starring Scott Baio and
Erin Moran as a couple who move
to Chicago and try to make it in
the music business. It lasted two
series before the characters were
reincorporated into Happy Days.
Lasting just one series was
Blanksy’s Beauties, about Howard
Cunningham’s cousin Nancy and her
team of Las Vegas showgirls.