# Erin Moran

Erin Marie Moran-Fleischmann (October 18, 1960 – April 22, 2017) was an American actress, best known for playing Joanie Cunningham on the television sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi.

## Early life

Erin Marie Moran was born on October 18, 1960, in Burbank, California, near Los Angeles and raised in nearby North Hollywood. She was the second youngest of six children born to Sharon and Edward Moran. Her father was a finance manager, and her interest in acting was supported by her mother, who signed her with a talent agent when she was five years old. Two of her brothers are also actors, John Moran and Tony Moran, the latter of whom played the unmasked Michael Myers in the movie Halloween (1978).
She publicly accused her father of physical and mental abuse in 1992.

## Career

Moran's first acting role was at the age of five in a television commercial for First Federal Bank. At the age of seven, she was cast as Jenny Jones in the television series Daktari, during its fourth and final season in 1968. She made her feature-film debut in How Sweet It Is! (1968) with Debbie Reynolds, and made regular appearances on The Don Rickles Show in 1972, and guest appearances in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, My Three Sons, Bearcats!, Family Affair and in The Waltons, in an episode titled "The Song", in 1975. She also appeared in the television series Gunsmoke (as Rachel Parker in S17E9’s “Lijah”).
In 1974, at the age of 13, Moran was cast to play her best-known role as Joanie Cunningham on the sitcom Happy Days, the younger sister of Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard). Moran continued the role in 1982 in the short-lived spin-off series Joanie Loves Chachi. Moran later stated that she had only reluctantly agreed to star in the series because she would have preferred to remain with Happy Days. 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.
In 1983, Moran said in an interview that the Happy Days producers had pressured her to change from about the age of 15: They "suddenly wanted me to lose weight and become this sexy thing."
In the following years, Moran made several other television guest appearances, including The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, and Diagnosis: Murder, and starred opposite Edward Albert in the cult sci-fi horror film Galaxy of Terror (1981). She would become estranged from the Happy Days cast, with People claiming that she called them "evil" in an interview, a statement she would deny on a later talk show.
In 2008, she was a contestant on VH1's reality show Celebrity Fit Club. Two years later, she made an appearance in the independent comedy feature Not Another B Movie (2010).

## Happy Days lawsuit

On April 19, 2011, Moran, three of her Happy Days co-stars—Don Most, Anson Williams, and Marion Ross—and the estate of Tom Bosley, who died in 2010, filed a $10 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS, which owns the show. The suit claimed that cast members had not been paid 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 with cast members' likenesses on the box covers. Their contracts entitled the actors to be paid 5% of the net proceeds of merchandising if a single actor's likeness was used, and half that amount if the cast members were pictured in a group. CBS stated it owed the actors between $8,500 and $9,000 each, most of it from slot-machine revenues, but the group stated 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 won the jackpot when five Marion Rosses were rolled.
In October 2011, a judge rejected the group's claim of fraud, thereby eliminating the possibility of recouping millions of dollars in 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 not settled by then. In July 2012, the actors settled their lawsuit with CBS; each received a payment of $65,000 and a promise from CBS to continue honoring the terms of their contracts.

## Personal life and death

In 1987, Moran married Rocky Ferguson. They divorced in 1993. Later that year, she married Steven Fleischmann.
After Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi were canceled, Moran moved from Los Angeles to the California mountains. She said in 1988 that she suffered from depression and was unable to secure acting roles. Moran confirmed news reports that her California home was foreclosed on in 2010, following media claims that she had been served eviction papers and moved into her mother-in-law's trailer home in Indiana. In 2017, Variety wrote that she "had fallen on hard times in recent years. She was reportedly kicked out of her trailer-park home in Indiana because of her hard-partying ways."
On April 22, 2017, authorities in Corydon, Indiana, were alerted about an unresponsive female, later identified as Moran. She later was pronounced dead at the age of 56. An autopsy report from the Harrison County coroner indicated the cause of death to be complications of stage four throat cancer (squamous cell carcinoma). Toxicology testing showed that no illegal narcotics were involved in her death, and no illegal substances were found in Moran's home. Moran's husband, in an open letter released through her co-star Scott Baio, confirmed that she had first experienced symptoms of throat cancer around Thanksgiving 2016 and deteriorated rapidly from that point, and that the facilities that had unsuccessfully attempted to treat her cancer had not made anyone aware of how extensively the cancer had metastasized.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1967 | Who's Minding the Mint? | Little Girl on Tricycle | Uncredited |
| 1968 | How Sweet It Is! | Laurie | |
| 1969 | 80 Steps to Jonah | Kim | |
| 1969 | The Happy Ending | Marge Wilson as a Child | Uncredited |
| 1970 | Watermelon Man | Janice Gerber | |
| 1977 | Grand Theft Auto | Debbie Hedgeworth | |
| 1981 | Galaxy of Terror | Alluma | |
| 1996 | Dear God | Erin Moran | |
| 1998 | Desperation Boulevard | Erin Moran | |
| 2003 | Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star | Erin Moran | |
| 2008 | Broken Promise | Mrs. Watkins | |
| 2010 | Not Another B Movie | Mrs. Klien | |
| 2012 | The Deceit | Mrs. Shephard | Final film role |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1968 | Stanley vs. the System | | TV movie |
| 1968–1969 | Daktari | Jenny Jones | Main cast, season 4 (15 episodes) |
| 1969 | Death Valley Days | Mary Tugwell / Mary Elizabeth | 2 episodes |
| 1970–1973 | The F.B.I. | Vickie Florea / Cindy Marot / Morrie Prager's daughter | 3 episodes |
| 1970–1971 | Family Affair | Amy / Mary Ellen / Janet | 3 episodes |
| 1970 | The Courtship of Eddie's Father | Emily Ruth Gustafson | Episode: "How Do You Know If It's Really Love?" |
| 1970 | My Three Sons | Victoria Lewis | Episode: "Dodie's Dilemma" |
| 1971 | The Smith Family | Julie Keefer / Little Girl | 2 episodes |
| 1971 | Gunsmoke | Rachel Parker / Jenny | 2 episodes |
| 1971 | O'Hara, U.S. Treasury | Little Girl | Episode: "Operation: Bribery" |
| 1971 | Bearcats! | Elisa Tillman | Episode: "Hostages" |
| 1971 | The Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove | Student at Camp | TV movie |
| 1972 | The Don Rickles Show | Janie Robinson | Main cast (13 episodes) |
| 1973 | Lisa, Bright and Dark | Tracy Schilling | TV movie |
| 1974–1984 | Happy Days | Joanie Cunningham | Main cast (234 episodes) |
| 1975 | The Waltons | Sally Ann Harper | Episode: "The Song" |
| 1979 | Greatest Heroes of the Bible | Tova | Episode: "Tower of Babel" |
| 1979 | $weepstake$ | | Episode: "Lynn and Grover and Joey" |
| 1980–1985 | The Love Boat | Carrie Walker / Joanne Morgan / Barbara Blatnick / Janet Reynolds | 6 episodes |
| 1981 | Twirl | Bonnie Lee Jordan | TV movie |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | Joanie Cunningham | Lead role (17 episodes) |
| 1983 | Hotel | Karen Donnelly | Episode: "Hotel" |
| 1984 | Glitter | Caroline Mason | Episode: "In Tennis, Love Means Nothing" |
| 1986 | Murder, She Wrote | Maggie Roberts | Episode: "Unfinished Business" |
| 1998 | Diagnosis: Murder | Cynthia Bennett | Episode: "Food Fight" |
| 1999 | Good vs. Evil | Herself | Episode: "Gee Your Hair Smells Evil" |
| 2001 | The Weakest Link | Herself | "Classic TV Stars Special Edition #2" |
| 2005 | Happy Days: 30th Anniversary Reunion | Herself | TV special |
| 2007 | Scott Baio is 45 and Single | Herself | Episode: "Scott Baio Hires a Life Coach" (Part 1)" |
| 2009 | The Bold and the Beautiful | Kelly DeMartin | Episode: "Episode #1.5691" |

## Soundtrack
### Film

| Year | Title | Song(s) performed |
| 2003 | Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star | "Child Stars on Your Television" (with other child actors) |

### Television

| Year | Title | Song(s) performed | Episode |
| 1975 | The Waltons | "Will You Be Mine" (with Jon Walmsley) | "The Song" (Season 3, Episode 23) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Faith of Our Fathers" (with Ron Howard, Anson Williams and Donny Most) | "Fonzie's Baptism" (Season 4, Episode 25) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Down by the Old Mill Stream" (with Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Ron Howard and Henry Winkler) | "Requiem for a Malph" (Season 5, Episode 12) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Beer Barrel Polka" (with Tom Bosley, Marion Ross and Henry Winkler) "That Old Gang of Mine" (with Tom Bosley, Marion Ross and Ron Howard) | "Fonzie vs. The She-Devils" (Season 7, Episode 11) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "You Look at Me" (with Scott Baio) | "Broadway It's Not" (Season 8, Episode 12) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Long After You'll Always Have Me" (with Scott Baio) | "American Musical" (Season 8, Episode 22) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Lookin' Good, Feelin' Fine" (with Scott Baio) | "No, Thank You" (Season 9, Episode 9) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Call" (with Scott Baio) | "To Beanie or Not to Beanie" (Season 9, Episode 12) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "How Am I Gonna Sing" (with Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Lynda Goodfriend, Ted McGinley and Pat O'Brien) | "Grandma Nussbaum" (Season 9, Episode 14) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Twistin' the Night Away" (with Scott Baio) | "Poobah Doo Dah" (Season 9, Episode 15) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Twist and Shout" (with Scott Baio) | "A Touch of Classical" (Season 9, Episode 16) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Time Turned Around" (with Scott Baio) | "Great Expectations" (Season 9, Episode 18) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "Come Go With Me" (with Scott Baio) | "Who Gives a Hootenanny?" (Season 10, Episode 6) |
| 1977–1983 | Happy Days | "The Loco-Motion" (with Scott Baio) | "Life is More Important Than Show Business" (Season 10, Episode 15) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "Too Young to Know" (with Scott Baio) | "Chicago" (Season 1, Episode 1) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "Puttin' It All Together" (with Scott Baio) | "The Performance" (Season 1, Episode 2) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "Too Young to Know" (with Scott Baio) "I'll Take You Back" (with Scott Baio) | "I Do, I Don't, I Do" (Season 1, Episode 3) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "Lookin' Good, Feelin' Fine" (with Scott Baio) "The Lasting Kind" | "College Days" (Season 1, Episode 4) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "Makin' Room for a Friend" (with Scott Baio) "You and Me and Summer" (with Scott Baio) | "Fonzie's Visit" (Season 2, Episode 1) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "Our Love Was Meant to Be" (with Scott Baio) | "One-on-One" (Season 2, Episode 3) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "That's My Kind of Lovin" (with Scott Baio) | "No Nudes Is Good Nudes" (Season 2, Episode 4) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "That's Why I Love You" (with Scott Baio) | "Everybody Loves Aunt Vanessa" (Season 2, Episode 5) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "I'll Take You Back" (with Scott Baio) | "Goodbye Delvecchio's, Hello World" (Season 2, Episode 8) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "He's So Fine" | "Term Paper" (Season 2, Episode 9) |
| 1982–1983 | Joanie Loves Chachi | "Love Me Tender" (with Scott Baio) | "The Elopement" (Season 2, Episode 13) |
| 1983 | Hotel | "Delta Dawn" (with Mel Tormé) | "Hotel" (pilot episode) |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Nominated work | Category | Result |
| 1977 | Photoplay Awards | — | Gold Medal – Favorite Child Star | Nominated |
| 1983 | Young Artist Award | Joanie Loves Chachi | Best Young Actress in a New Television Series | Won |
| 2006 | TV Land Awards | Happy Days | Most Wonderful Wedding (shared with Scott Baio) | Won |