My Days: Happy and Otherwise

For eleven seasons, Marion Ross was head of one of America's favorite television households. Now meet the lovable real-life woman behind the Happy Days mom . . .

Before she was affectionately known to millions as "Mrs. C.," Marion Ross began her career as a Paramount starlet who went on to appear in nearly every major TV series of the 1950s and 1960samp;mdash;including Love, American Style, in which she donned an apron that would cinch her career. Soon after came the fateful phone call from producer Garry Marshall that made her an "overnight" success, and changed her life . . .

In this warm and candid memoir, filled with loving recollections from the award-winning Happy Days teamamp;mdash;from break-out star Henry Winkler to Cunningham ¿wild child¿ Erin Moranamp;mdash;Ross shares what it was like to be a starry-eyed young girl with dreams in poor, rural Minnesota, and the resilience, sacrifices, and determination it took to make them come true. She recalls her early years in the business, being in the company of such luminaries as Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Noel Coward, yet always feeling the Hollywood outsideramp;mdash;a painful invisibility that mirrored her own childhood. She reveals the absolute joys of playing a wife and mother on TV, and the struggles of maintaining those roles in real life. But among Ross¿s most heart-rending recollections are those of finally finding a soulmateamp;mdash;another secret hope of hers made true well beyond her expectations.

Funny, poignant, and revealingamp;mdash;and featuring Garry Marshall¿s final illuminating interviewamp;mdash;as well as a touching foreword from her ¿TV son¿ Ron Howard, and a conversation with her real-life son and daughter, Marion Ross¿s story is one of inspiration, persistence, and gratitude. It¿s also a glowing tribute to all those who fulfilled her dreamsamp;mdash;and in turn, gave us some of the happiest days of our own lives.