Yesterday, we heard the sad news that Erin Moran, an actress best known for her role on Happy Days, had passed away at the age of 56. At this point in time, the cause of her death is unknown — officials have scheduled an autopsy to clear everything up. Right now, we know that around 4:00 yesterday afternoon in Indiana, authorities received a call about an “unresponsive female.” But when EMTs arrived to the location, the woman — Erin — was already dead. It was a sad ending to what seemed to be a sad life. She began her acting career when she was only five years old. She appeared in commercials and had small roles in various television shows until she landed the role of Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days. Erin played Joanie for the full ten seasons that Happy Days ran, and she played her again for one season of the spin-off series Joanie Loves Chachi. She had a few other roles after the show ended, most recently in the film Not Another B Movie in 2010, but she never had the same level of fame or success since. Several reports claim that she began struggling with addiction issues, and she also struggled with her finances, eventually ending up completely broke . But no matter what happened in her life, no matter what caused her to end up the way she did, one fact remains: She was clearly well loved and respected by her Happy Days family. Ron Howard, who played Erin’s big brother Richie Cunningham, remembered her on Twitter, writing “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.” Henry Winkler, The Fonz himself, tweeted “OH Erin… now you will finally have the peace you wanted so badly here on earth …Rest In It serenely now.. too soon.” Don Most, who played Richie’s friend Ralph, made a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, saying “I am so incredibly sad to hear about Erin. She was a wonderful, sweet, caring, talented woman.” “As I write this I can’t really comprehend this right now. A very painful loss. It gives me some comfort to know that she’s with Tom, Al, Pat and Garry. Rest In Peace, sweet Erin.” He’s referring, of course, to Tom Bosley, Al Molinaro, and Pat Morita, all beloved actors from Happy Days, and Garry Marshall, the show’s creator. Anson Williams, who played Richie’s other buddy, Potsie, released a statement of his own that read “Erin was a person who made everyone around her feel better.” View Slideshow: Celebrities Who Died in 2017: In Memoriam “She truly cared about others first, a true angel. I will miss her so much, but know that she is in God’s hands. RIP sweet angel.” Her loss is clearly being felt deeply by those who knew her, and it’s such a testament to the kind of person she apparently was. Our condolences to all of Erin’s friends and family.
Go here to read the rest:
Erin Moran: Mourned & Remembered by Happy Days Co-Stars
