Ron Howard helps say goodbye to Tom Bosley...

Hey folks, Harry here with another sad duty, to mourn the passing of the great Tom Bosley. I never had an opportunity to meet Tom Bosley, but I would have been paralyzed with fright or would have given him an embarrassingly heartfelt hug - simply based on the sheer 'Father-tude" that he radiated as Mr. C on HAPPY DAYS, which I watched religiously as a child. Tom's MR. C seemed like a reasonable tolerant parent. He reminded me of my grandfather - and HAPPY DAYS was generally shown to me by my father as representing essentially what his life was like growing up in that generation. I always kind of regretted not living in that time, but thanks to HAPPY DAYS - it gave Dad and I a lot to talk about, when he was a kid. But I felt that I should reach out to Ron Howard to see if he wanted to share some comments about Tom, that helped humanize him beyond the character we all knew on screen. So my friend, here's Richie Cunningham, Ron Howard on all of ours' TV dad, Tom Bosley...

You wouldn't expect this to be the case, but Tom BOSLEY was actually cool. Not cutting edge hipster cool...but kind of that world -weary- seen -it all- sort of cool. They couldn't ruffle him. They could piss him off but he was always in control and never had to apologize for anything he said because he always came from a place of wisdom and common sense. He was funny, too. Kind of wickedly dry. He loved Chicago and his cubbies. Wore a cubs hat a lot of the time when we were rehearsing. He also suited up for a lot of our softball games. Played second base. Not a lot of range but good hands. Before he quit smoking he'd often come to bat with a thin little ciggie dangling from his lips. He'd stroke one into center field and jog to first with puffs of smoke traveling with him. Funny what images come to mind when you lose someone important to you When Happy Days first aired it was only a medium success The show took off in Australia first an then England. Tom took a trip to London during that first cycle of airings in the UK and he came back saying the shoe was big there and he had a nickname they gave him there that he heard from time to time on the street and read in the papers. "top pops". He loved that nick name. Well Tom. It fit. God Bless you, Top Pops. And from all of us, thanks. Ron