Celebrity Biographies
Tom Bosley
Tom Bosley has worked in film and television since the late 1950s. His biggest success, at least in the United States, was the television sitcom Happy Days , which he starred in in the 1970s, but he played major roles in other small-screen hits. . The actor died on October 19 of cardiac arrest after a tough battle with lung cancer, at a hospital near his Palm Springs, California, home.
Born in Chicago on October 1, 1927, Thomas Edward Bosley came from a strongly held Jewish family. After fighting in the Navy in World War II, he debuted on stage at the end of the 40s and came to perform a theatrical production with Paul Newman . On screen his first task was to play Natalie Wood ‘s suitor in Robert Mulligan ‘s Love with a Stranger .
Bosley lavished himself on the stage and went on to win the Tony for his leading role in the 1959 musical “Fiorello”. In cinema, one of his most remembered roles was the husband of Angela Lansbury , in the dramatic comedy The irresistible Henry Orient , starring Peter Sellers . In the 1960s he became a regular on television, and in the 1970s he achieved great success with his role as Howard Cunningham, father of the boy played by Ron Howard in the comedy Happy Days , which ran for ten years. He also appeared in the series Holidays at Sea , and coincided with Lansbury again in Murder, She Wrote ., where he played Sheriff Amos Tupper, which is possibly his best known role worldwide.
In the late 1980s, Tom Bosley starred as the lead in the entertaining series The Father Dowling Mysteries , where he played a wily Catholic priest from the Diocese of Chicago who solved crimes before the police with the help of Sister Steve. Tom Bosley’s last job was a supporting role in El Plan B , alongside Jennifer Lopez .