MR. C: Tom Bosley, beloved by so many in my generation as TV's Howard Cunningham on "Happy Days," has passed away. I can think of no better clip to remember him by than his last words on the show, this fourth-wall acknowledging toast at Joanie and Chachi's wedding:
Added: Linda Holmes, who has clips: "Very often, sitcoms offer fathers who are either loving but slightly remote and intimidating (like Ward Cleaver) or lovable but bumbling (like Tim Taylor on Home Improvement). Happy Days offered up Howard Cunningham, who genuinely fell somewhere in between.... Howard wasn't a guy who brought a briefcase home and wore a suit; he owned a hardware store. But although he could certainly be silly (the show got no end of jokes from his Leopard Lodge membership and the dream of becoming Grand Poobah), he wasn't a goof. He was a good dad and a good guy, and he loved his kids warmly and with humor."
No, I didn't warn you about the montage. Damn, that show was on for a long time. (Also: "two children," Mr. C? Chuck would like a word with you.)
ReplyDeleteJen's sister Molly got the chance to work with Bosley on a made-for-tv movie a few years ago, and had only kind things to say about him on the set.
Aw, RIP, Mr. C.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm a bit younger because I think of him as Sheriff Amos Potter from "Murder She Wrote" and Father Dowling from the eponymous show.
ReplyDelete<span>I guess I'm a bit younger because I think of him as Sheriff Amos Potter from "Murder She Wrote" and Father Dowling from the eponymous show.</span>
ReplyDeleteVerbatim, this is what I was coming to post. He will be fondly remembered.
ReplyDeleteBy all accounts, seems Bosley actually was in real life a lot like Mr. C--slightly avuncular, but always understanding and caring at his core. That's worth something.
ReplyDeleteI forgot that whatshisname from Married with Children was one of the post-shark-jumping characters. Or perhaps I'd stopped watching by then.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if I'm Jean Stapleton, I'm avoid all risky behavior this week.
ReplyDeleteShowing my age here, but I first thought about the last episode of David the Gnome.
ReplyDeleteI knew Tom Bosley was still alive, but if Jean Stapleton had died that would have been some serious premorse. How can she still be alive?
ReplyDeleteI remember getting a little teary while watching that toast during the last Happy Days episode when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteNow this is a production I can't even imagine: "<span><span>Sad news: Tom Bosley has passed away. Such a wonderful man. We worked together in Cabaret on Broadway. So kind. He will be missed..." from Neil Patrick Harris (http://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/27855483245)
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He's always added in during a show's death spiral. Ashley Evans, Your Ship's Photographer, was not in the Love Boat's heyday either.
ReplyDeleteAce! Yes, he was the Paula Marshall of his day.
ReplyDeleteHeart still beating, brain waves still functioning. Same as for most of us. (But, yeah, I had to google to confirm first. Wanted to find some other tv parent of that broad era still alive.) (Also, I am excessively proud of myself for learning how to do a YouTube embed cued to a particular moment.)
ReplyDeleteTed McGinley! Also, the the head of the evil fraternity in Revenge of the Nerds!
ReplyDeleteI'll always remember how he played an episode where Richie and his buddies snuck into a burlesque club (with bubble machine!) and it happened to be the same one Dad and his leopard Lodge buddies were at. They snuck back out, hoping they weren't seen, and in the revelation scene at the end actually had a real conversation about going to such places. Very intelligently, wisely and slightly abashedly played by Boswell.
ReplyDeleteTwo-time All-American Stan Gable.
ReplyDeleteIs it sad that I know his name on the Love Boat was Ace?
ReplyDeleteThey were both replacements in the Studio 54/Roundabout Cabaret. NPH played the Emcee and Bosley played Herr Schulz (originated by Ron Rifkin in that production).
ReplyDeleteDoes John Amos count, even though his character (on Good Times) died?
ReplyDeleteRelatedly, googling "Florida Evans" turns up, for the first two video results, that scene after James's death. Always gets me:
http://www.youtube.com/v/xKUwcCp7LPE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
Re do your link. the back parenthese is throwing it off.
ReplyDeleteYep, no matter how many more hours I spent watching Happy Days in my preteens and teens, the sound of Tom Bosley's voice will always and forever FIRST make me think of David the Gnome. It's like LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow, or Julie Andrews and Mary Poppins. It's Pavlovian.
ReplyDeleteWhoooooooaaaaaaaaa.
ReplyDeletethis is a production I saw--NPH, Tom Bosley, and Molly Ringwald as Sally. NPH was (to me at the time, shockingly) awesome, Molly Ringwald was so so bad, and Tom Bosley was lovely.
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