{"id":92,"date":"2010-10-20T05:58:44","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T05:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/10\/a-sad-day-tom-bosley-dies-at-83-happy-days-dad-also-played-father-dowling.html"},"modified":"2010-10-20T05:58:44","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T05:58:44","slug":"a-sad-day-tom-bosley-dies-at-83-happy-days-dad-also-played-father-dowling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/10\/a-sad-day-tom-bosley-dies-at-83-happy-days-dad-also-played-father-dowling.html","title":{"rendered":"A sad day: Tom Bosley dies at 83. “Happy Days” dad also played “Father Dowling”"},"content":{"rendered":"

TV lost another iconic parent this week.<\/p>\n

Following the death of Barbara Billingsley<\/a> (aka June Cleaver) on Saturday comes word that Tom Bosley<\/a> (Mr. C of Happy Days<\/i><\/a>) passed away on Tuesday.  The immediate cause of death was reported to be heart failure (following a battle with lung cancer).<\/p>\n

While Bosley’s most-famous role by far was that of the loving dad to Richie and Joanie Cunningham and unlikely pal to the Fonz on Happy Days<\/i>, his long career<\/a> included many varied  roles, including that of the crime-solving priest on The Father Dowling Mysteries<\/i><\/a> which ran for a couple of seasons in the late eighties and early nineties. <\/p>\n

Father Dowling<\/i> wasn’t particularly groundbreaking as a character. He wasn’t even TV’s first first crime-solving priest. Anyone remember a show called Sarge<\/i><\/a> starring George Kennedy<\/a>? But the show was a pleasant-enough diversion that at least showed Catholics in a positive light. <\/p>\n

Bosley’s also known to TV audiences for playing Sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder, She Wrote<\/i><\/a>. He also won a Tony Award for his starring role as New York’s legendary Mayor LaGuardia in the 1959 Broadway musical Fiorello!<\/a>.<\/i>  <\/i><\/p>\n

With the deaths of Tom Bosley and Barbara Billingsley within a week of each other, it makes me wonder what TV parents today’s generation of kids will look back on fondly. I don’t see these two being equaled in the current prime-time landscape. At least there still are reruns of Leave it to Beaver<\/i> and Happy Days<\/i>.       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TV lost another iconic parent this week. Following the death of Barbara Billingsley (aka June Cleaver) on Saturday comes word that Tom Bosley (Mr. C of Happy Days) passed away on Tuesday.  The immediate cause of death was reported to be heart failure (following a battle with lung cancer). While Bosley’s most-famous role by far…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-television","category-theater"],"yoast_head":"\nA sad day: Tom Bosley dies at 83. 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Kennedy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","caption":"John W. Kennedy"},"description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. 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