ERIN NIXED AID
Other former kid stars tried to reach out
“Happy Days” actress Erin Moran refused help from fellow former child stars as her life spiraled out of control, a child-actor advocate said Sunday.
Cops found Moran (inset), 56, who played Joanie Cunningham on the iconic ’70s sitcom, unconscious in New Salisbury, Ind., before she was pronounced dead on Saturday.
“I am proud of our efforts over the years to help Erin Moran, whose troubles were many and complex,” Paul Petersen, who runs the child-actor advocacy group “A Minor Consideration,” said in a Facebook post.
“At least a half-dozen ‘formers’ were actively reaching out to Erin in the last week of her life,” he said.
Petersen, who was a child star on “The Donna Reed Show,” said Moran had friends in Paris, London, New York and Los Angeles all trying to help.
“Erin had friends and she knew it. Abandonment was not the issue. The perversity of human frailty is at the root of this loss, not failure,” wrote Petersen.
“We did our best with the resources available to us, but it was a very dark room. Some don’t find the light switch in time.”
Moran appeared in 239 of 255 “Happy Days” episodes between 1974 and 1984, and starred in the spinoff “Joanie Loves Chachi.” She led a low-key post-stardom life until 2012, when she and her husband were evicted from their Indiana trailer park. Reports chronicled Moran’s drinking and odd behavior.
Harrison County sheriff ’s deputies declined to comment Sunday, only saying they got a 911 call at 4:07 p.m. on Saturday and found an unresponsive Moran.
“It was determined that Erin Marie Moran Fleischmann was deceased. An autopsy is pending,” according to a sheriff ’s statement.
“May people remember Erin for her contagious smile, warm heart, and animal-loving soul,” her co-star Scott Baio tweeted on Sunday. “I always hoped she could find peace in her life. God has you now, Erin.”
Moran’s “Happy Days” mom, Marion Ross, also said Sunday she wished to remember the former child star in better times.
“This breaks my heart,” Ross, 88, told NBC in Los Angeles. “She was the quickest, fastest little kid. Wonderful.”
Moran is the fourth regular cast member of the show to die since “Happy Days” went off the air in 1984 — following TV dad Tom Bosley (2010) and Arnold’s owners Al Molinaro (2015) and Pat Morita (2005).