Tonight Marion Ross will be featured in ABC’s special “TV’s All-Time Funniest,” for her portrayal of the lovable Mrs. Cunningham on Happy Days. So what makes this iconic actress’ days happy now? Fancast caught up with her to find out.
This special is about celebrating you as a TV mom, but as a mom yourself what are you doing this year for Mother’s Day?
My children are all coming and we’re going to have game day, and we have ping pong, and I have a tennis court, and I’m such a spoiled brat, I’ve got everything, you know, so everybody wants to come. Actually I’m wearing a necklace that I got last year on Mother’s Day because Gavin McLeod from The Love Boat said we want you and Florence (Henderson) to come to the helm of The Princess Cruise Line and christen the ship on Mothers Day in Athens!
What is it about your character Mrs. C that you think made her such a great TV mom?
I was so kind to Howard, I liked that about her, she would prefer to protect Howard from the children, so that they would treat him nicely, and I was watching it the other night on TV when he comes through the door and I went “oh hello Howard,” and I kissed him and I thought ‘oh, well that’s nice.’ I don’t like to see things where the husband is always put down.
You did some voice work on Family Guy and King of the Hill, what was it that attracted you to those shows?
Its so funny, because they (King of the Hill) asked me if I wanted to come in and do voice over and they said “do you want to see the script?” And I said “no no no, it’s fine, I’ll just come over,” so I come in and then I go, ‘well there’s Tom Bosley,’ and I think, ‘that’s strange, isn’t it.’ So the first skit was about this couple who ran a summer camp, and they had fallen on bad times, so they turned it into a sex camp, so I was a dominatrix! And I thought, ‘well we’re already shooting this thing,’ so I thought ‘wow, I gotta be careful.’ [laughing] So then next time the other show (Family Guy) calls up and says “will you come in? do you want to see the script?” and I say “no no no, that’s fine,” so I go in and well, there’s Tom Bosley again, and there’s Henry Winkler! And there’s a scene when we’re in bed together!
So You Were Wondering What You Got Yourself Into?
I was like ‘what is this!?’
Were you a fan of the show’s beforehand?
I had never seen them before! I didn’t know they were nearly R-rated shows!
Looking at the TV landscape now versus when you got your start in the business, what would you say strikes you as some of the biggest changes?
Well I did live TV first, I was in a show called Life With Father, but you had to have a stage background. I went to San Diego State and was theatre trained. Now you don’t need to be trained so much, and you know, children can do it, and television is not that hard to do. All these big athletes want to be in big movies and then they complain about not getting any parts and I think ‘do you have any idea what it takes to prepare to be an actor?’
And now there are so many reality shows out there too…
You know, an actor like I am, we can become other people, we can immerse ourselves in other characterizations, which is what we love to do, and that is a kind of acting.
Would you ever consider doing a reality show?
I don’t think so, I don’t like that so much. I want Henry Winkler to go on Dancing With the Stars though, I think he could do it. On Happy Days he did an Elvis Presley number, and he and I danced the Tango together in one of the shows, and the choreographer came and worked with me for forever, and he just had it down right away!
Is there anyone who you still really want to work with?
Well I play Leslie Nielson’s wife in Superhero Movie. It’s been fabulous working with Leslie, I thought ‘well he’s a big handsome man, what is so funny about him?’ but he’s so funny, and he’s very jealous because I have one of the biggest farting scenes since Blazing Saddles!
Speaking of handsome men, any big time crushes on any co-stars?
Well I was kissed on the cheek by Charlton Heston and I nearly fainted! And I was in Teacher’s Pet with Clark Gable, and in Operation Petticoat with Carey Grant, I had a wonderful moment with him because we were supposed to go down into the sea in this submarine, and we were all by ourselves, and I said to him “I don’t think I can go down there because I think I’m about 2 months pregnant,” and we started to cry. It was a beautiful moment between Carey Grant and me.”
TV's All-Time Funniest airs tonight at 8 PM on ABC.