Marion Cunningham (née Kelp) is a fictional character in the 1970s American television 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 ...

''. She was played by

Marion Ross Marion Ross (born Marian Eileen Ross; October 25, 1928) is an American actress. Her best-known role is that of Marion Cunningham (Happy Days), Marion Cunningham on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television sitcom ''Happy Days'', on which ...

, after whom the character was named, and first appears in the ''

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 ...

'' episode "Love and the Happy Days". Another lead character of the show, Marion appears in almost every episode of the series, with the exception of 2, and is one of three characters to remain on the show for all 11 seasons. She is also one of three characters to be played by the same actors on ''Love, American Style'' as well as ''Happy Days'' (the others being

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 Potsie).

Bio

Marion Cunningham is the wife of Howard Cunningham and the mother of

, Joanie, and (briefly)

Chuck Cunningham ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most succ ...

; she sometimes plays the role of a surrogate mother to

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 ...

, who usually called her "Mrs. C". Marion, on the other hand, is the only person Fonzie allows to address him by his birth name, Arthur. She is a

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which may include Parenting, caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; Sew ...

and tends to the typical domestic responsibilities: cooking, cleaning, and looking after the kids while her husband is at work. Marion once became frustrated by her life as a housewife and fell out with Howard about it. Fonzie encouraged her to work at Arnold's as a waitress but she insulted Al's menu and interfered with people's orders (see "Marion Rebels" from

Season 4 Season 4 may refer to: * "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock'' See also * * Season One (disambiguation) * Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album), 2014 * ''2econd Season'', an album ...

). Marion became worried that Howard would leave her for a younger woman after she found out that one of her friends left his wife for a younger woman. She tries to prove to him that she is still young at heart but she goes completely over the top, Salome-style (see "Marion's Misgivings" from

Season 5 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

). Marion once went to jail after crashing Howard's beloved DeSoto into Arnold's (see "Marion Goes to Jail" from Season 7).YouTube
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Marion Happy Days characters Fictional characters from Milwaukee Television characters introduced in 1972 American female characters in sitcoms