Howard C. Cunningham is a fictional character played by

Tom Bosley Thomas Edward Bosley (October 1, 1927 – October 19, 2010) was an American actor, television personality and entertainer. Bosley is best known for portraying Howard Cunningham (Happy Days character), Howard Cunningham on the American Broadcasti ...

on the 1970s sitcom ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

''. Actor

Harold Gould Harold Vernon Goldstein (December 10, 1923 – September 11, 2010), better known as Harold Gould, was an American character actor. He appeared as Martin Morgenstern on the sitcom ''Rhoda'' (1974–78) and Miles Webber on the sitcom ''The Golden ...

played the character in the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, which aired as an episode of the anthology series ''

Love, American Style ''Love, American Style'' is an American anthology comedy television series that aired on ABC from September 29, 1969, to January 11, 1974. The series was produced by Paramount Television. During the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons, it was a pa ...

''. He is the husband of Marion Cunningham, and the father of

Chuck Chuck () is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV produce ...

Richie Richie or Richy is a masculine given name or short form (hypocorism) of Richard. It is also a surname. First name * Richie Ashburn (1927–1997), American Major League Baseball player, member of the Hall of Fame * Richie Benaud (1930–2015), Aust ...

, and

Joanie Cunningham Joanie Louise Cunningham is a fictional character, played by Erin Moran on the sitcoms ''Happy Days'' and '' Joanie Loves Chachi''. Her first appearance was on one episode of ''Love, American Style'', where she was played by Susan Neher. The cha ...

. Originally, Gould was supposed to reprise his role on ''Happy Days'' as Howard Cunningham but wanted to commit to something else so Bosley was offered the part. Howard is one of only two characters, the other being

Fonzie Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz", is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984). He was originally a secondary character, but was soon positioned as a lea ...

, to appear in all 255 episodes of ''Happy Days'' and to remain with the rest of the cast for all 11 seasons; of the two, Howard is the only one to have also appeared in the pilot.

Biography

Howard Cunningham was born on September 28, 1910 (it is revealed in season 3's "Howard's 45th Fiasco" that his birthday is on

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

's birthday; the year is 1955). In Howard's youth, Cunningham was a cook in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. In his later years, he became owner of a hardware store (Cunningham Hardware) while residing in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

with his family. His character was written to portray Cunningham to be the stereotypical all-American 1950s father: a sage, white, Republican business owner in Middle America with traditional values. He was a member of Leopard Lodge No. 462 in Milwaukee, eventually becoming its "Grand Poobah". Originally Howard had a special disdain for

, who seemed a troublesome hood. However, during a brief period of financial insecurity about the fate of his store, Howard agreed to rent out the apartment over the family's garage. The most promising tenant was Fonzie's grandmother, but she declined and Richie convinced Fonzie to use it instead. Howard was aghast at the idea, even when Fonzie insisted on paying three months in advance before moving in. Howard originally would only tolerate a week's time as a trial, but despite some unintended disturbances, he eventually agreed to make Fonzie's tenancy permanent. Eventually, Howard would eventually warm to Fonzie as a family friend.

Trivia

*He is referred to affectionately as "Mr. C" by Richie's friends, although Ralph Malph likes to call him "Howie" at times. *His favorite car is a DeSoto, which was the only car he ever owned until he gets a new car in season 10. *He likes to go golfing with Chachi as his caddy. *Cunningham Hardware, Howard's hardware store, was referenced in an episode of the 1986–1993 sitcom '' Perfect Strangers'' (the show that spun off ''

Family Matters ''Family Matters'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC for eight seasons from September 22, 1989, to May 9, 1997, then moved to CBS for its ninth and final season from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. A spin-of ...

''). A character brings out a toilet for a stunt and says that it is courtesy of Cunningham Hardware in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Howard Happy Days characters Fictional characters from Milwaukee Fictional Republicans (United States) Television characters introduced in 1972 American male characters in sitcoms