Happy Days’ Joanie dies at 56 of suspected heroin overdose
HAPPY Days actress Erin Moran, who played Joanie Cunningham in the Seventies sitcom, has died aged 56.
Reports suggest the cause of death was a heroin overdose but authorities in New Salisbury, Indiana, where she was found in a caravan park, have not yet specified. An autopsy is pending.
Moran’s co- star Henry Winkler , who played the smooth- talking Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli on the show, tweeted a tribute.
He wrote: “Oh Erin, now you will finally have the peace you wanted so badly here on Earth, rest in it serenely now, too soon.”
Ron Howard, who portrayed her onscreen brother Richie Cunningham, also expressed his shock.
Wonderful
He tweeted: “Such sad, sad news. RIP Erin. I’ll always choose to remember you on our show making scenes better, getting laughs and lighting up TV screens.”
Ms Moran had supporting roles in films and on TV before being signed up to play Joanie in Happy Days in 1974 when she was 13.
She appeared in the sitcom until 1982, when she left to take the lead role in a spin- off, Joanie Loves Chachi, about her romance with the character Chachi Arcola – played by Scott Baio.
While initial episodes were a success, ratings fell and the show was cancelled after two seasons. Ms Moran returned to Happy Days for its final series in 1983. In interviews she was open about struggling with depression after Joanie Loves Chachi and Happy Days ended.
She never secured another lead role and left for a life away from Hollywood in the Californian mountains.
She married first husband Rocky Ferguson in 1987 but they divorced in 1993. That year she married Steve Fleischmann and moved in with him and his mother in a trailer in Indiana after the pair reportedly lost their home in California to foreclosure.
Ms Moran reportedly clashed with her mother- in- law over her partying and was asked to leave the trailer in 2012. She continued to live in the area and was frequently pictured looking dishevelled. An unnamed source claims that a heroin overdose could have led to her death.
Authorities have confirmed they attended an “unresponsive female” on Saturday at 4pm local time but have not issued any further statement.
In 2008, Ms Moran appeared in Celebrity Fit Club and two years later in lowbudget film Not Another B Movie.
After Happy Days she struggled to find acting roles of the same calibre but reunited with some of her co- stars in 2011 to sue CBS and Paramount. Ms Moran, Anson Williams, Marion Ross, Don Most and the widow of Tom Bosley, who died before the lawsuit was filed, claimed they never received their royalties from merchandise sales.
They sued for £ 7.8million and the case was settled out of court, with each actor reportedly only receiving around £ 46,800.
Don Most, who played Ralph Malph in Happy Days, said he was “incredibly sad” about Ms Moran. He said: “She was a wonderful, sweet, caring, talented woman. I can’t really comprehend this right now. A very painful loss. Rest In Peace, sweet Erin.”