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Film roles and Happy Days[edit]

Richie (Ron Howard) takes a turn on Fonzie's motorcycle in a scene fromHappy Days

Howard played Steve Bolander in George Lucas's coming-of-age film American Graffiti in 1973.^[1] A role in an installment of series Love, American Style, titled "Love and the Television Set",^[18] led to his being cast as Richie Cunningham in the TV series Happy Days (for syndication, the segment was re-titled "Love and the Happy Days"). Beginning in 1974, he played the likeable "buttoned-down" boy, in contrast to Henry Winkler's "greaser" Arthur "Fonzie"/"The Fonz" Fonzarelli. On the Happy Days set, he developed an on- and off-screen chemistry with series leads Winkler and Tom Bosley. The three remained friends until Bosley's death in October 2010.