Late in the run of the democratic ABC sitcomHappy 24-hour interval , family patriarch Howard Cunningham ( Tom Bosley)remarkedhow proud he was of his two kid , Richie ( Ron Howard ) and Joanie ( Erin Moran ) .
“ What can I say ? ” Howardsaidin the show ’s terminal second . “ Both of our child are marry now and they ’re starting out to work up lifetime of their own … we ’ve had the joy of raising two wonderful kids and look on them and their protagonist grow up into loving adults . ”
For looker who had been with the show since its first time of year in 1974 , the comment was odd . Howard and wife Marion ( Marion Ross ) had three children , not two . The oldest was Chuck Cunningham , who appear in several episodes in the first and 2nd seasons before suddenly disappearing and then never being seen or mentioned again . Even to his own fictitious home , it was as though miserable Chuck had never exist .
Oh, Brother
When the pilot light for creator / producer Garry Marshall’sHappy Daysmet with a cool receipt at ABC , the meshwork decide to practice it as an instalment on the anthology seriesLove , American Stylein 1972 rather than govern it to series . Then George Lucas’sAmerican Graffiti — another ‘ 50 period undertaking star Ron Howard — became a massive hitting the following year , and ABC realise they had a small - screen door version of it near ready to go . Bolstered by the next thatdevelopedaround Henry Winkler ’s Arthur “ Fonzie ” Fonzarelli , the series explode in popularity and ran for 11 seasons .
In thepilot , Chuck Cunningham was portrayed by an actor diagnose Ric Carrott , but when the show went into production , many of the role were recast . ( For example , the original Howard Cunningham , Harold Gould , had a theater dedication , and wasreplacedby Tom Bosley . ) The part of Chuck snuff it to Gavan O’Herlihy , who was born in Dublin in 1951 and spent metre in both California and Ireland growing up . ( His don , actor Dan O’Herlihy , was a oldtimer role player who appeared inHalloween tierce : Season of the Witchas Conal Cochran . ) Chuck was Richie ’s big brother , a basketball standout who was prepare to head off for college . Freckled and with a shock absorber of red hair , the 20 - something O’Herlihy depend like he had stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting .
At first , O’Herlihy was ecstatic to get the part . “ That was my big fracture , ” he said later on . “ That got me establish around town as a kid who beat hot in a haste . ”
But the reality of the fizgig soon set in . Happy Dayswas , at least ab initio , a display case for Ron Howard , a spotlight he soon shared with Winkler ’s radical - pop Fonzie . Chuck was n’t likely going to be establish a good deal of silver screen metre to raise into a compelling character . “ I was choke to grunt and reverberate a basketball once every couple of workweek for likely three or four years , ” O’Herlihy tell .
After a fistful of episode in the first and 2d seasons , O’Herlihy kick the bucket to speak to producer and explicate he was n’t interested in continue . They tried to talk him out of leave . For most actors , a function on a hit situation comedy — even a minor one — would seem like a win . But O’Herlihy was n’t having it . “ It was n’t my cup of tea , ” hetoldOnMilwaukee.com of his decision in 2013 . “ It raised some eyebrows , but I ’m glad I did . ”
O’Herlihy departed the show in its 2d time of year , and was replace in a handful of appearances by the third Chuck , Randolph Roberts . Then , short and without explanation , Chuck Cunninghamsimply ceased to be , never to be seen or mentioned in the Cunningham household again .
Chucked
In the seventies and early 1980s , rerun were n’t quite as rife as they are today . It was not easy to muster up episodes ofHappy Daysthat featured Chuck — and as a result , some viewers were unsure he existed at all .
“ We ca n’t seem to convince our son - in - police force that onHappy solar day , Richie Cunningham has an older brother make Chuck , ” one viewerwroteto aKansas City Startelevision columnist in 1979 . " He say the older brother only appeared only on aLove , American Stylesegment . Can you help ? ”
It was peculiar . AllHappy Dayscreator Garry Marshall had to do was offer a thrown-away personal line of credit about Chuck — that he was in college out of DoS , that he had enlisted , that he had but settled elsewhere . But not only was no explanation forthcoming , the Cunninghams finally spoke as though Chuck was a non - entity .
According to Marshall , that ambiguity was by design — he wanted to chivy viewing audience . “ Everybody asked me , ‘ What happened to Chuck onHappy Days?’”he tell in 2016 . “ It soon became obvious , because we heard the hearing … that Fonzie was like the sometime buddy and that was the family relationship that was sour .
“ [ The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show ] , remember that show ? … One nighttime I ’m watching and the doorbell rings and [ George Burns ] comes walk out towards the door and he stops . And he looks in the camera and he said , ‘ You love the military man playing our boss ? He had to leave behind . This is a different honcho . ’ … And he went and he answer the door , [ and it was ] another histrion . Nobody wrote a letter . Nobody said anything . So I just sound out , ‘ Let ’s just have Chuck melt and let ’s see how much mail we get . ’ We did n’t get much . ”
While Fonzie may have largely supplanted Chuck , there was a clip when Chuck would have serve another purpose — replace Richie . Ron Howard set off the serial after the 1979 - 1980 season , leaving a jolly large break to fulfil . AccordingtoThe Daily News , ABC was take care to uprise Chuck , though not with O’Herlihy or Roberts . The web was said to be looking for afourthChuck .
One never materialise . Instead , Happy Daysintroducedanother family member , Richie ’s cousin Roger , fiddle by Ted McGinley . Eventually , the series was responsible for two cultural trends : stand out the shark(to support a monolithic drop cloth in quality , or rely on outrageous plot of ground full stop to pull in ratings ) andChuck Cunningham syndrome , where a graphic symbol disappears without explanation .
O’Herlihy cover on as an actor , appear in films likeSuperman III(1983 ) andDeath Wish 3(1985 ) , and finally working alongside Howard again when Howard lead 1988’sWillow . O’Herlihy give out in 2021 at eld 70 . The destiny of his alter ego , Chuck Cunningham , remains a mystery .
