Howard C. Cunningham is a fictional character played by Tom Bosley on the 1970s sitcom ''

Happy Days ''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 ...

''. Actor Harold Gould played the character in the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

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

Love, American Style ''Love, American Style'' is an anthology comedy television series that aired on ABC from 1969 to 1974. The series was produced by Paramount Television. During the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons, it was a part of ABC's Friday primetime lineup ...

''. 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 producer * C ...

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), Austr ...

, 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 c ...

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

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

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

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

with his family. His character was written to portray Cunningham to be the stereotypical all-American 1950's 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".

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 debuted on ABC on September 22, 1989, and ended on May 9, 1997. However it moved to CBS, where it was shown from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. A spin-off of '' Perfect Strangers ...

''). 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 Television characters introduced in 1972