HAPPY DAYS’ JOANIE IN OVERDOSE TRAGEDY
Troubled actress was kicked out of her 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, in her trailer park home in Indiana on Saturday.
Police from nearby Harrison County confirmed her death and said there would be a post-mortem.
Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler, 71, who played the Fonz, led 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 in the show, 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 axed 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, she joined several of her Happy Days co-stars in suing the sitcom’s makers CBS.
Along with Anson Williams, Marion Ross, Don Most, who played Ralph Malph, and the widow of Tom Bosley, they filed an £8million lawsuit claiming they never received merchandise royalties they were owed under their contracts.The case was settled out of court with each receiving just £50,000.
Winkler and Howard were not part of the lawsuit.
Several months later, Moran, who was reportedly battling drug addiction, and her husband Steve Fleischmann were unable to pay their mortgage and had to quit their Californian home.
They moved in with Fleischmann’s mum in a trailer park but Moran was kicked out for her “hardpartying 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, said: “She truly cared about others first, a true angel. I will miss her so much.” Most said: “I am so incredibly sad to hear about Erin. She was a wonderful, sweet, caring, talented woman. A very painful loss.”