Howard Cunningham (Happy Days character)

Howard Cunningham is a fictional character played by Tom Bosley on the sitcom Happy Days & Harold Gould on the sitcom Love, American Style. He is the husband of Marion Cunningham, and the father of Chuck, Richie, and Joanie Cunningham. 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 the only one (the other being Fonzie) to appear in all 255 episodes of Happy Days and to remain with the rest of the cast for all 11 seasons.

Biography

In his youth, Cunningham was a cook in the Army. In his later years, he became owner of a hardware store (Cunningham Hardware) while residing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 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.
• His favorite car is a DeSoto, which was the only car he ever owned.
• He was born around 1912 because he celebrated his 45 birthday in 1957 (see "Howard's 45th Fiasco" from Season 3).
• 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). A character brings out a toilet for a stunt and says that it is courtesy of "Cunningham Hardware" in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[1]

References

External links

• Howard Cunningham (Character) at the Internet Movie Database