Erin Moran

2.1. Childhood and Family

Erin Marie Moran was born on October 18, 1960, in Burbank, California, a city near Los Angeles. She was raised in North Hollywood, also in California. She was the second youngest of six children born to Sharon and Edward Moran. Her father worked as a finance manager. Moran's interest in acting was nurtured by her mother, who signed her with a talent agent when Erin was just five years old. Two of her brothers also pursued acting careers: John Moran and Tony Moran, the latter notably playing the unmasked Michael Myers in the 1978 horror film Halloween. In 1992, Erin Moran publicly alleged that her father had subjected her to physical and mental abuse.

3.1. Early Roles

Moran's acting debut occurred at the age of five in a television commercial for First Federal Bank. At seven, she secured a role as Jenny Jones in the television series Daktari, appearing in its fourth and final season in 1968. That same year, she made her feature-film debut in How Sweet It Is!, starring alongside Debbie Reynolds. She became a regular on The Don Rickles Show in 1972 and made guest appearances on several other television series, including The Courtship of Eddie's Father, My Three Sons, Bearcats!, Family Affair, and Gunsmoke (as Rachel Parker in the episode "Lijah" in season 17, episode 9). In 1975, she appeared in The Waltons in an episode titled "The Song".

3.2. Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi

In 1974, at the age of 13, Moran was cast in her most iconic role as Joanie Cunningham on the sitcom Happy Days, portraying the lively younger sister of Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard). She continued in this role until 1982, when she transitioned to the lead role in the short-lived spin-off series Joanie Loves Chachi. Moran later expressed that she had reluctantly agreed to star in the spin-off, preferring to remain with Happy Days. For her performance in Joanie Loves Chachi, she received the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a New Television Series. Following the cancellation of Joanie Loves Chachi in 1983, she returned to Happy Days for its final season.

In a 1983 interview, Moran revealed that Happy Days producers had begun pressuring her to alter her appearance from around the age of 15, stating they "suddenly wanted me to lose weight and become this sexy thing."

3.3. Other Television and Film Appearances

Following her time on Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi, Moran made several other television guest appearances. These included roles on The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, and Diagnosis: Murder. She also starred opposite Edward Albert in the 1981 cult sci-fi horror film Galaxy of Terror. Moran later became estranged from some of the Happy Days cast members, with People magazine reporting in 1992 that she had called them "evil" in an interview. However, she later denied this statement on a talk show.

3.4. Reality Television and Later Work

In 2008, Moran participated as a contestant on VH1's reality show Celebrity Fit Club. Two years later, she appeared in the independent comedy feature Not Another B Movie (2010), which would be one of her last film roles. Her final film role was in The Deceit (2012).

5.1. Marriages and Family

Erin Moran was married twice. Her first marriage was to Rocky Ferguson in 1987. This marriage ended in divorce in 1993. Later that same year, she married Steven Fleischmann. Details about her family life beyond her parents and siblings are not widely publicized.

5.2. Personal Struggles and Challenges

After the cancellations of Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi, Moran relocated from Los Angeles to the California mountains. In 1988, she publicly stated that she suffered from depression and found it difficult to secure new acting roles. Reports confirmed that her California home was foreclosed on in 2010. Following media claims that she had received eviction papers, she moved into her mother-in-law's trailer home in Indiana. In 2017, Variety reported that she "had fallen on hard times in recent years" and was " reportedly kicked out of her trailer-park home in Indiana because of her hard-partying ways."

6.1. Cause of Death

On April 22, 2017, authorities in Corydon, Indiana, were notified about an unresponsive female, who was subsequently identified as Erin Moran. She was pronounced dead at the scene at the age of 56. An autopsy report from the Harrison County coroner's office determined the cause of death to be complications arising from stage four squamous cell carcinoma, a type of throat cancer. Toxicology tests conducted as part of the autopsy confirmed that no illegal narcotics were involved in her death, and no illegal substances were found in her home.

Moran's husband, Steven Fleischmann, released an open letter through her former co-star Scott Baio, providing further details about her final days. He stated that Moran first began experiencing symptoms of throat cancer around Thanksgiving in 2016, and her condition rapidly deteriorated from that point. He also noted that the medical facilities that had attempted to treat her cancer had not informed anyone about how extensively the cancer had metastasized throughout her body.

7.1. Filmography

7.2. Television Work

7.3. Soundtrack Appearances

Moran contributed vocals to several songs for film and television soundtracks.