Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Happy Days’ Joanie in overdose tragedy
Troubled star kicked out of home for wild partying
ERIN Moran, who found fame in the 70s sitcom Happy Days, has died from a suspected heroin overdose, according to reports.
Paramedics found Moran, 56, who played Joanie in the hugely popular series, dead in her trailer park home in Indiana on Saturday. Police from nearby Harrison County confirmed the death and said there would be a postmortem. Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler, 71, who played The Fonz, lead tributes to the troubled actress. He tweeted: “Oh Erin... now you will finally have the peace you wanted so badly here on earth ... Rest in it serenely now.. too soon.” Film director Ron Howard, 63, who played her brother Richie, 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.” Moran was just 14 when she started playing feisty Joanie in the hit series which ran for 10 years from 1974. She also had a spin-off show called Joanie Loves Chachi, with Scott Baio, but it was shelved after two series. Bit parts in shows such as The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote, followed but she never repeated the success of Happy Days. In 2012, having spent her TV money, she joined several of her Happy Days co-stars in suing the sitcom’s maker CBS. Along with Anson Williams, Marion Ross, Don Most, and the widow of Tom Bosley, who played Howard Cunningham, they filed a $10million lawsuit claiming they never received merchandise royal- ties they were owed under their contracts. The case was settled out of court with each receiving just $65,000. Winkler and Howard were not part of the lawsuit. Several months later Moran, reportedly battling drug addiction, and husband, Steve Fleischmann, had to quit their Californian home as they couldn’t pay the mortgage. They had to move in with Fleischmann’s mum in a trailer park but Moran was kicked out for her “hard -partying ways.” She then lived from motel to motel. In 2013 she was said to be on the verge of a split from her husband of 20 years. Williams, who played Potsie in the show, said: “She truly cared about others first, a true angel. I will miss her so much.” Most, who played Ralph, said: “I am so incredibly sad to hear about Erin. She was a wonderful, sweet, caring, talented woman. A very painful loss.”