Posted on 06/07/2012 9:31:32 AM PDT by iowamark
These are not Happy Days for Joanie Cunningham actress Erin Moran.
Shes broke, living in an Indiana trailer park and looking haggard well beyond her 51 years, according to the National Enquirer.
Moran and husband Steve Fleischmann, 45, are reportedly living hand-to-mouth at the Berkshire Pointe Mobile Home Park in New Salisbury, Ind., where theyre said to be caring for his ailing mom.
Its a long fall for the actress, best known as Ron Howards wisecracking little sister on one of Americas most beloved sitcoms.
She appeared in 236 episodes of Happy Days between 1974 and 1984 before doing her short-lived spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi.
The couple lost their Southern California home to foreclosure in 2010.
Life hasnt been kind to Erin since the foreclosure of her home, a family friend said.
Despite these tough times, pals admire Morans dedication to her sick mother-in-law.
She and Steve moved in with his ailing mother at the trailer park a few weeks back. Erin is like an angel to her mother-in-law. She cooks and cleans for her and takes care of her personal hygiene, the family pal observed...
While Moran cares for her mother-in-law, Fleischmann reportedly brings home the bacon with a meager Walmart job...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Maybe Ron Howard can give Erin a role in one of his movies to help her out.
What happened to her earnings and residuals form Happy Days?
I thought the Jackie Cooper laws protected the income of kid actors...
Someone needs to tell the Fonz or Richie.. they are quite successful..
Must’ve spent all the money on husbands..
Not a bad looking youngster IMHG(eezer’s)O.
She’s a fool to pay lot rent though.
Sounds like they’re living like regular folks to me.
On a site that must not be named, she and the others in the cast are supposed to go back into court to regain their royalties. Don't know why they would have lost them.
Look at those cheekbones..maybe she is Cherokee !!!!
Apparently the residual checks are quite small, especially if the reruns aren’t on television anywhere anymore.
Anyone else remember years ago that TV Guide and anyone else would commonly report that she called the Happy Days cast members EVIL and wanted nothing to do with them?
Unless she sold the syndication cash stream rights, years ago for a lump sum.
The Beach Boys did the same thing, they sold the airing rights to their catalog in the 1970s and it cost them dearly (in opportunity costs).
Fonz won't call...no reverse mortgages on trailer homes.
And her husband has an honorable job. It's more useful to society than some higher paid jobs such as nonworking union bosses, MSNBC hosts, pimps and the CEO of AIG.
Dittos! And what’s so bad about living in a trailer park? One of mrs p6’s friends lives in one and it’s beautiful. Easy to keep up, low utilities, has a nice fireplace, great view. I wish we could have moved there but it’s full up.
It is not really a sad story. I would say that she is living like a lot of people today. She obviously was affected by the economy that cannot be blamed on Obama (it was Bush you know). Anyway, I think a person can gain a lot of pride with helping an elderly parent whether her own or in-law.
Joanie Loves Food Stamps
Better to be an honest person living in a trailer than to be a shifty rascal living in the White House or a crook living in a mansion.
It seems to me she’s alive, properly helping a family member, married and not asking for a handout (sort of like most of the people we know).
Why do we always make victims of people just getting on with their lives?
In all seriousness, though. She really doesn't look "beyond her 51 years," either. I mean, it's not like she's ended up homeless or in court, or Betty Ford.
To be sure, there are a lot of stuck-up people, perhaps especially in New York, who look down their noses at people living in double-wides in Ohio, but this isn't Margot Kidder or Dan Rather, babbling to themselves on a street corner. This is someone making the best of things, willing to take care of an extended family member.
"Happy Days," indeed. Remember the Laverne and Shirley spin off? That may have been the most cocaine-soaked television show in history. The old guy who ran the pretend Soda Shop was the biggest dealer in Hollywood, before getting busted. He's probably still in jail.
That's Show Business.
The writer James Ellroy once said, "actors are f-ed-up people."
Sounds to me like Erin Moran ain't one of them.
I lived in a nice park for about a year and it was OK but I don’t like my neighbors living that close.
Or better yet, since Opie’s such a huge kenyan fan, he needs to put his $$$$$ where his mouth is and SPREAD SOME OF HIS WEALTH to his former co-star.
Ah yes, the film in which an unfortunate woman was viloated by a giant worm.
The money flow from those days was crazy. I vaguely remember the David Cassidy case where, in those days, the network/production owned all the license revenue.
Basically if things were then as they are now, he would have made a hundred million, but he has to tour little casinos.
There is a huge difference, not unlike sports, in how the money is paid out. Though the record industry is still a disaster area in that regard.
I have a fair amount of respect for famous people who go out of their way to live normal lives. Even moderately liberal ones like Jeff Daniels who lives in his hometown (Chelsea Mi) with family all around.
“Sounds like they’re living like regular folks to me.”
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too. Not all of us can live the glamourous lifestyle of - say - a Sarah Jessica Parker or a Moochelle Obama. The dirty little secret is that it ain’t all that tragic after all.
My dad likes the little trailer park where he’s at. He knows pretty much everybody there and spends his days sitting in the shade chatting up the neighbors.
“The money flow from those days was crazy. I vaguely remember the David Cassidy case where, in those days, the network/production owned all the license revenue.
Basically if things were then as they are now, he would have made a hundred million, but he has to tour little casinos.....”
David, in his autobiography, brags about his big johnson, and reports he would give admiring fans the choice: 10 minutes talking, or give him a b-job...
He reports that just about every female, whatever age, chose the latter option.
Way back then said that Joanie should have gone to college instead of shacking up with that deadbear loser Chachi.
People in the neighborhood said that Chachi got Joanie addicted to Crack Coiciane and would make her turn tricks in downtown Milwaukee.
At first, it was not so bad as men would pay $1000.00 to be with little Joanie Cunningham, but then Joanie turned 50 and the Obama economy devestated Milwaukee and the next thing you knew, Joanie could only earn $27.50 a night.
Chachi took out his frustrations by beating Joanie and then left her and became Potsey’s gay lover.
I remember the first season she came back after she "developed" and I was in love.
Wah...wah...wah....(((ping!)))
A couple of years ago, I was watching an interview of Tom Bosley, who played Howard Cunningham on the show.
He was asked about that very thing. Bosley said that a show's actors are paid on a declining scale. For the first couple of years of syndication, payments are high. But the payments decrease more and more as time goes on.
Dick York actually lived in Rockford, and he spent his final days trying to raise donations for the lest fortunate, even as he was dying of lung disease.
She picked the wrong career. If she had spent those same ten years as a politician, she would be set for the rest of her life.
Anyway, 18 years was not that long ago.
looking haggard well beyond her 51 years
**********************************
Oh bull-poop! She doesn’t look like she has had all sorts of crud injected into her lips or had her eyes pulled tight. She looks like an average 51 year old woman.
If she lives in a trailer—so what. Other people do, too...is she special just because she was once a star? She had money and it was frittered away somehow.
She looks fine, I like her looks better than all that plastic-surgery crud we see on so many Hollywood types.
What make you think he cares? He's undoubtedly aware of her situation. And he's a Hollywood lib so he'd probably rather other people's money go to help her.And yes, I liked him on his TV shows.
David, in his autobiography, brags about his big johnson, and reports he would give admiring fans the choice: 10 minutes talking, or give him a b-job...
He reports that just about every female, whatever age, chose the latter option.
Really???? WOW, I did not know that.
Never understood her character getting a show with Chachi. At the time, they were pretty much the central characters on Happy Days (Richie was gone and Fonzie was getting a little old for the act, and he was trying to get out of his contract). Putting them on their own also added the problem that it was still family-oriented, but they weren't married, making their relationship even less believable.
Hey,
they put ron howards UGLY brother in a ant poison commercial. Maybe they can add her/S
On an episode on "The Honeymooners", Ralph Kramden delivered a similar line, to which Norton replied: "Happens every day in the sewer!"
“an ant”, before the spell check/grammar police show up!
Honestly, she was never a great actress which is why her career ended once she was past the child stage, but one would think she’d still be making residuals from HD’s of some sort.
I am glad her and her husband are taking care of his Mom, that’s what you do, whether you are rich or poor.
Its a just punishment for ‘Joanie Loves Chachi’.
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