Some 40 years after Happy Days came to an end, Ron Howard says he still has fond memories of his time on set.
Three members of the cast — Howard, Anson Williams and Don Most — reunited for a panel discussion at MegaCon Orlando on Friday, Feb. 7.
“We were all young, ambitious guys but we were always thinking ahead,” Howard, 70, shared of their early days, remembering card games between takes and tours with their baseball team.
But years later, he admitted, “I realized I hadn’t watched an episode in a long time.”
Howard was waiting for a flight one day when he decided to watch a random episode, “and it was the greatest feeling,” he said, “because I know why the show was a hit: it was good. And we were good.”
“We were so cohesive as an ensemble unit,” he added. “We really connected in a great way. And it’s one of the reasons the show has endured.”
He compared the experience to a “freshman dorm, just going on all the time.”
Set in 1950s and ’60s Milwaukee, Happy Days followed the Cunningham family: father Howard (Tom Bosley), mother Marion (Marion Ross), son Richie (Howard) and daughter Joanie (Erin Moran), as well as Richie’s friends Potsie (Williams) and Ralph (Most) — and, of course, local bad boy, Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler).
The show was also famous for welcoming big guest stars, including Robin Williams.
“He blew our minds with what he was immediately inventing,” Howard said of the actor’s time on set during his Mork & Mindy days. The cast knew “this was a next-level talent. I’ve never seen anything quite like that.”
But it was musician Pat O’Brien who actually had them “speechless,” Williams, 75, shared of the cameo that left them most star-struck. (O’Brien guested on a 1982 episode in what would become his final filmed performance before his death in 1983.)
The show ran for 11 seasons on ABC from 1974 to 1984. When asked if they would do a reboot of the series, the men joked it’d have to be called The Golden Boys.
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On the Jan. 30 episode of 9021OMG, Williams reflected on his friendships with his costars, and how creator Garry Marshall helped forge their connection.
“We have been close friends for decades,” he said, noting that Winkler, Howard and Most are “literally a text away.”
“It’s just been a wonderful friendship. And just to have that kind of friendship that many years? It’s pretty unique,” he said. “But that has a lot to do with Garry Marshall, our mentor.”
Marshall, who died in 2016 at age 81, “really cared about us,” Williams said, “not just as a showrunner, but as young people because we didn’t know much.”
As William recalled, “He said, ‘You guys are gonna be famous. You don’t deserve it. But you’re gonna be famous. There’s gonna be a light on you. Your responsibility is, you take the light and put it on someone that does deserve it.’ ”
At MegaCon, Howard called Marshall “the best boss I ever worked for.”
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