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‘Happy Days’: Anson Williams Flew Out Leukemia-Battling Fan, Family to Set on His Own

To say that “Happy Days” was a beloved television show would be an understatement. To many fans, it was more than just another sitcom. It brought them joy and laughter that they continue to carry with them.

According to actor Tom Bosley, who played Howard Cunningham on the show, the cast members were aware of just how much the show meant to fans during its original run. “Happy Days” aired from 1974 until 1984. Reruns have only made the show more popular.

Bosley talked about the show’s relationship to its fans during an interview with the Television Academy Foundation in 2000. The actor passed away in 2010.

The Howard Cunningham actor said fans often reached out to the show in an effort to meet the cast.

“We had that a lot – personal requests,” Bosley said.

The love did not just go one way. The cast of “Happy Days” also shared love with their fans on several different occasions. In fact, one actor once went above and beyond to bring some “Happy Days” to a fan. That actor was Anson Williams. He played Potsie Weber on the show.

“One gal – we didn’t know anything about this,” Bosley said. “This was something Anson Williams did totally on his own. But, this woman wrote him and said that her 8-year-old daughter had a crush on him and she was dying of leukemia.”

This letter must have touched Williams because he took action.

“He brought her out,” Bosley recalled. “He brought the mother, the whole family out – on his own, you know, just did it.”

This was just one example of the type of people who appeared on “Happy Days.”

“Everybody had good hearts and good feelings on the show,” Bosley said.

One Cast Member of ‘Happy Days’ Once Helped Save a Fan’s Life

While the requests from fans were often lighthearted, one was very serious indeed. In fact, it was a matter of life and death, according to Tom Bosley.

“We had a lot of … one time, I’ll never forget, we were rehearsing a show and the phone rang and it was the police in Indianapolis, Indiana,” Bosley recalled. “(The police said) that a kid was on a roof. The roof of the jail. And, was going to kill himself and wanted to talk to Fonzie. Henry (Winkler, the actor who played Fonzie) talked to him for 20 minutes. We just stopped doing everything we were doing and they got him down. He came down.”

You can watch Tom Bosley talk about the “Happy Days” cast and the show’s fans below.