ballpeen Posted October 19, 2010 Report Share Posted October 19, 2010 http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainmen...0,2482763.story PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Actor Tom Bosley, best known as the beloved Mr. Cunningham on "Happy Days," has died. The family says Bosley died of heart failure at 4 a.m. Tuesday at a hospital near his Palm Springs home. Bosley's agent, Sheryl Abrams, says he was also battling lung cancer. He was 83 years old. Bosley was most known for his role as Howard Cunningham on the long-running sitcom 'Happy Days.' TV Guide ranked Bosley's Happy Days character No. 9 on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" in 2004. The show debuted in 1974 and ran for 11 seasons. He was also known for portraying Sheriff Amos Tupper on 'Murder, She Wrote' and Father Frank Dowling on the TV mystery series, 'Father Dowling Mysteries,' which ran from 1989 to 1991. Actor Henry Winkler, who played Arthur Fonzarelli on 'Happy Days' says he's shocked to hear the news. "I'm just in shock, I really am," Winkler told KNX 1070 News Radio. "I spoke to him just a few weeks ago and he seemed to be getting his strength back," he said. When he was first offered the costarring role in "Happy Days," a series about teenage life in the 1950s, he turned it down. "After rereading the pilot script," he recalled in a 1986 interview, "I changed my mind because of a scene between Howard Cunningham and Richie. The father/son situation was written so movingly, I fell in love with the project." Propelled by the nation's nostalgia for the simple pleasures of the 1950s, "Happy Days," which debuted in 1974, slowly built to hit status, becoming television's top-rated series by its third season. It made a star of Henry Winkler, who played hip-talking, motorcycle-riding hoodlum Arthur "Fonzi" Fonzarelli. His image initially clashed with that of Richie and his "straight" friends. But over the show's 11-season run Fonzarelli would transform himself from high school dropout to successful businessman. Grey Mumford, a CBS publicist who issued a statement on behalf of the family, said Bosley is survived by his wife, Patricia Bosley, his brother Richard Bosley, his daughter Amy Baer, stepdaughters Kimberly diBonaventura and Jamie Van Meter and seven grandchildren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. T Posted October 20, 2010 Report Share Posted October 20, 2010 She was a classy lady and will be missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted October 20, 2010 Report Share Posted October 20, 2010 He was a funny guy. All the old TV show greats dying off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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