EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Happy Day's Marion Ross

Marion Ross has been acting for over 6 decades now, one of her first jobs being "Life With Father" in 1953 playing Nora. Most people know her from her time on "Happy Days" playing the picture perfect mother, Mrs. Cunningham but since "Happy Days" Marion has stayed plenty busy guest starring on some of the biggest shows on television such as "The Love Boat," "The Drew Carey Show," and most recently "Two and a Half Men." In the exclusive TVMaze interview with Marion she discusses some of her greatest memories on one of the most iconic tv shows released to date along some of her newer projects including Dominique Schilling's "A Reason" which was just released on DVD and VOD last week.

What is your best memory of ‘Happy Days’?

Oh, I have so many. We had a softball team; we traveled to the East German border, and we traveled to Okinawa to play softball. The Fonz did all the pitching. Everybody in the cast was a very good athlete. Ron (Howard) was right field. I played Rover, just like “Marion, get over there…” But I could hit, and I would run with my arms way up. And they didn’t want to hit the fine old lady, so they would overthrow first base so that I could get on. It bonded us so much together. Not only did we play in Europe, we played in every major league before the games. So we were able to meet thousands of fans. We had such a following. That was a very wonderful time on television; we didn’t have so much competition. Everybody watched ‘Happy Days’ on Tuesday nights.

Do you have a favorite episode of ‘Happy Days’?

I think where I danced the Tango with Fonz in a dance contest. It really was wonderful. We had somebody come in and teach us how to do that. The Fonz got it in one second, but it took me a little bit.

The first season we did with one camera. And they would be questioning if you serve from the right or the left in order to make a matching shot. The cameraman, director, and other people would be arguing about it on set. Ron would say to me very quietly, “You serve it from the right.” He knew camera already at 19 or 20 years old.

Do you think a ‘Happy Days’ reunion would ever happen?

Well, we did a couple, we did them as softball games. Erin (Moran) is not so well. She’s getting better, but she’s kind of out of the picture. It’s hard to get the gang together. Scott (Baio) lives very near me here. I went to his Christmas party, and it was so fun. He’s so grown up now and has a little girl. I see The Fonz quite a bit, the great Henry Winkler. And Ron lives in the East. It would be interesting though, wouldn’t it?I always tease them and say, “Oh, you boys are getting to look too old for me.” I think it would be an awful lot of fun. I see Anson (Williams) occasionally; he’s very busy as a businessman. And I see Donny Most because Donny has been reviving his little nightclub act. He’s got a Bobby Darin way that he sings, and he’s very good. So I’ve been to several shows that he’s put on, and he gets such a kick out of it. And Al Molinaro died this year. And Pat Morita died. And Tom Bosley did. So we’re all getting pretty grown up. And Jerry Paris, our great director, died. Garry Marshall is still very healthy and happy, and he’s the one that kept all this baseball stuff going. He played first base. It was a tremendous device for keeping the cast together. You keep promoting it, and we’ll all be there.

You have guest starred on numerous popular TV shows in the last few years such as Instant Mom, Hot in Cleveland, Two and a Half Men, The Middle, and Chasing Life. Do you have a favorite out of these, experience wise?

Well, it’s pretty wonderful to be acting with Betty White (Hot in Cleveland). She’s a little bit older than I am, but what a pro. And we are such fans of one another.

Is there a show on right now that you really enjoy that you would like to guest star on?

I like The Good Wife. It’s very interesting how I don’t know these actors. So it makes a difference in the way I watch it.

Did you bring Mrs. Cunningham at all to your character in the film ‘A Reason’?

No. There’s none of Mrs, C in there. I’m an old woman who is dying. And she assembles the remnants of her family, the young people, to divide up her wealth because she knows that she’s dying in a matter of months. It’s one of those stories. And you see how [the other characters] play off of each other. I love playing not mean people, but not sweet people. I get a kick out of that because there must be somebody like that inside me somewhere.

‘A Reason’ was just released on DVD, what do you hope audiences will take away from this film?

I personally am just having fun with my career. I’m going off in 2 days to a play in Kansas City with Hal Linden. These filmmakers, the world is wide open to them. They’ve got to be businessmen, and they’ve got to sell these things. It’s amazing and exciting.

As far as the message of the film, this story demonstrates the rather common disharmony within families. And the attempt to heal some of these old wounds before the old people die. Don’t let them go to their grave without that resolve.You can learn more about A Reason at http://www.areasonthemovie.com/featurefilms/.