After Happy Days had ended, Marion Ross would refuse new roles that she thought would ''betray'' her image as Mrs. Cunningham

"It's so valuable," the actor said.

CBS Television Distribution

If you play a role well enough, it can follow you for the rest of your career. For many actors, the idea of that is a nightmare, but for Marion Ross, it was a mighty achievement.

Ross played Mrs. Cunningham in the series Happy Days. There, she served as a maternal character to nearly every teen on the show, whether they played her children or not. During an interview with the Associated Press, Ross confessed that she had held on so tightly to the character that even after the series had wrapped, she refused roles that felt like a betrayal to an image of her as the perfect mother everyone had grown so accustomed to.

"I'm so beloved on the screen that people stop and kiss me," she said. "I thought, what a treasured thing! I cherish, in a sense, being that for America. Happy Days is rerunning now on Nick at Night, every night. A little girl stopped me in the market...I hugged her, and we had a little moment in the market together. It's so valuable. I wouldn't betray that."

During her time on Happy Days, Ross grew close with the youngsters on set, particularly Henry Winkler, best known as The Fonz.

"He feels a great responsibility toward those youngsters who write to him for advice, kids who have absolutely no other guidance in their lives," Ross said of Winkler in The Daily Utah Chronicle. Oddly enough, while viewers were turning to Winkler looking for advice, Winkler was turning to Ross.

"Sometimes Henry will call me at night," she said. "He'll tell me, 'I feel so small...so small.'" Ross was also close with her on-screen daughter, Erin Moran. "We go back to my dressing room and just talk [during filming]," she said. "We get so wrapped up we almost forget they're doing the show." It seems that while Ross stopped playing the role of Mrs. Cunningham after Happy Days had ended, we never stopped seeing her as our mother.

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15 Comments

mcharris 2 days ago
She also co-starred with Clark Gable and Doris Day in Teacher's Pet 1958 movie. A fun movie. She played Doris Day's secretary.
DocForbin 3 days ago
It should be pointed out that Ross had a role as a computer scientist in the now cult classic sci-fi movie "Colossus: The Forbin Project" a few years before Happy Days began its run. The movie had some other classic TV stars in it as well like Eric Braeden, Georg Stanford Brown, William Schallert and Paul Frees (who did the voice of the title supercomputer but went uncredited for it). I think this movie would be great to show on Svengoolie since it's message about the dangers of AI is even more timely than ever. What do you say, Svengoolie? :-D
sagafrat69 5 days ago
It's called acting for a reason. "Mrs. C" was a character who only existed on camera, plain and simple. There are actors who complain about being typecast after playing a memorable role. Then you have actors who don't mind missing out on other roles because they enjoy being typecasted for characters they've previously played. A real head scratcher.
Wiseguy70005 5 days ago
She also played "Mrs. C" on The Drew Carey Show (and referred to as such) playing Drew Carey's mother.
AgingDisgracefully 5 days ago
Good for her.
Playing a creepy, grasping piece-a/piece-a on Dynasty, Dallas or Miami Vice would be silly.
JoonBug 5 days ago
Didn't she play the dual roles of 'Trix' and 'Cousin Marian' on Gilmore Girls? Trix was the anti-Marian Cunningham and 'Cousin Marian' was very different too.
TheJackOfCups 6 days ago
I read online that Marion Ross and Jean Stapleton decided they were ready to shake off their typecast images so they accepted an offer to play the two dotty aunts in a Broadway production of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”
wowee -- i would have loved to see THAT! did it happen? i don't suppose there's any film of it?
From what I saw online, this happened in 1987. I’m not sure if there’s any film of it
I saw the production at Chicago’s then-Schubert Theatre. In addition to Ross and Stapleton, there was James MacArthur (Dann-o from the original “Hawaii Five-0”) as Mortimer (although it was Gary Frank from “WKRP” who was advertised), Jonathan Frid (Barnabas from the original “Dark Shadows”) as Jonathan Brewster, and Larry Storch (“F Troop”, “Tennessee Tuxedo”) as Dr. Einstein. Very funny show with a big laugh during the curtain call.
Runeshaper 6 days ago
Ross was perfect as Mrs. Cunningham. It's truly special and unique that she refused roles that would portray that character in any other way than how she was on Happy Days.

Also, I remember being a kid and watching Happy Days on Nick at Night. Great memories (-:
WordsmithWorks 6 days ago
My guess is that typecasting played a small role in further casting opportunities for Ross.
she was a nice grandmotherly type in a wonderful series that doesn't seem to be well known: brooklyn bridge i think is the title. it was like a new york jewish version of the wonder years. terrific boy actors too.
"Brooklyn Bridge." An excellent series.
cperrynaples 6 days ago
I would have loved it if she had played the mother of Barry! Surely Winkler would have suggested it...LOL!
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