Erin Moran

Short Biography

Erin Marie Moran (October 18, 1960 – April 22, 2017) was an American actress, best known for playing Joanie Cunningham on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi.Moran was cast as Jenny Jones in the television series Daktari, which ran from 1966 to 1969. In 1968, she made her feature-film debut in How Sweet It Is! with Debbie Reynolds. She appeared in 80 Steps to Jonah (1969) and Watermelon Man (1970). She made regular appearances on The Don Rickles Show in 1972. She made guest appearances in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, My Three Sons, Bearcats! and Family Affair. As a young child, she was also on the television series Gunsmoke.In 1974, Moran was cast to play her best known role, Joanie Cunningham on the sitcom Happy Days. She played the feisty younger sister of Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard). Moran continued the role in 1982 in the short-lived spin-off series Joanie Loves Chachi, alongside Scott Baio. She won the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a New Television Series for her role. After Joanie Loves Chachi's cancellation in 1983, she returned to Happy Days for its final season.Moran has made several other television guest appearances, including The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote and Diagnosis: Murder.In 2007, she made an appearance in the independent comedy feature Not Another B Movie.In 2008, she was a contestant on VH1's reality show Celebrity Fit Club.In 2013, despite reports that she would be reunited with former Happy Days co-stars Henry Winkler, Ron Howard, and Scott Baio in the fourth season of Arrested Development, she did not appear in the revamped Netflix series. Happy Days lawsuitOn April 19, 2011, Moran and three of her Happy Days co-stars, Don Most, Anson Williams and Marion Ross, plus the estate of Tom Bosley, who died in 2010, filed a US$10 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS, which owns the show. The suit claimed that cast members had not been paid for merchandising revenues owed under their contracts. Revenues included those from show-related items such as comic books, T-shirts, scrapbooks, trading cards, games, lunch boxes, dolls, toy cars, magnets, greeting cards and DVDs where cast members' images appear on the box covers. Under the actors' contracts, they were supposed to be paid five percent from the net proceeds of merchandising if a single actor's image was used, and half that amount if the cast members were pictured in a group. CBS said it owed the actors US$8, 500 and US$9, 000 each, most of it from slot machine revenues, but the group said they were owed millions. The lawsuit was initiated after Ross was informed by a friend playing slots at a casino of a "Happy Days" machine on which players win the jackpot when five Marion Rosses are rolled.In October 2011, a judge rejected the group's fraud claim, which eliminated the possibility of millions of dollars in potential damages. On June 5, 2012, a judge denied a motion to dismiss filed by CBS, which meant the case would go to trial on July 17 if it was not settled by then. In July 2012, the actors settled their lawsuit with CBS. Each received a payment of US$65, 000 and a promise by CBS to continue honoring the terms of their contracts.Her DeathOn April 22, 2017, TMZ reported that Moran had died. Harrison County, Indiana authorities were alerted to an unresponsive female, later identified as Moran. She was 56 years old.