‘Happy Days’ actor Gavan O’Herlihy dies at age 70
“He was a beautiful actor with a protracted and distinguished profession in movie, tv and theatre and was revered as a person of directness, sincerity, and honesty,” Michael Emptage advised CNN.
Emptage mentioned O’Herlihy died in Bathtub, England, on September 15, though his dying was not publicly confirmed till Friday.
The Irish-born O’Herlihy was a part of a showbiz household — the son of singer and actor Dan O’Herlihy — and grew up in america. When the nostalgic sitcom “Joyful Days” went into manufacturing in 1974, O’Herlihy acquired his huge break as Chuck Cunningham, the household’s eldest youngster. Chuck was a school jock whose defining trait was a behavior of dribbling his basketball by the home, to the irritation of his father Howard, performed by Tom Bosley.
“I used to be going to return in, grunt, bounce a basketball as soon as each couple of weeks for most likely three or 4 years, and at 20 years previous, that is not the gig you need to be doing,” he mentioned.
Actor Randolph Roberts briefly took over the function within the present’s second season earlier than Chuck merely stopped showing on this system, turning into the quintessential instance of a personality who disappears from a tv present with none clarification.
In distinction to his healthful begin on the small display, O’Herlihy later specialised in taking part in heavies, together with in Sean Connery’s remaining James Bond movie, “By no means Say By no means Once more.” His character, Jack Petachi, memorably used a faux eye to idiot safety at a nuclear facility earlier than being murdered in a automotive crash.
O’Herlihy’s household didn’t reveal his reason for his dying.
“Gavan was bigger than life and is enormously missed by all who knew him, most significantly by his adoring spouse and household,” Emptage mentioned.