Watching the episodes towards the end of Ron Howard's run as a regular castmember (1979-80), I keep thinking to myself if he actually started to lose his hair around this point. Maybe it's my imagination or maybe it's really because he stopped gelling his hair. Looking at this 1989 interview (9 years after he left Happy Days and 5 years after Happy Days itself ended) that Ron did with David Letterman, he's already looking very thin on top:
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Well he was pushing 40 at the time so it's possible

He wasn't pushing fourty on Happy Days.

My guess is that the producers of Happy Days had him wear a hairpiece for his later work on the series, blended in with his own hair.

He wasn't pushing fourty on Happy Days.


I"M TALKING ABOUT ON DAVID LETTERMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My guess is that the producers of Happy Days had him wear a hairpiece for his later work on the series, blended in with his own hair.

Yeah, he might have.

If you watch the episodes involving Richie and Ralph coming back from the Army, you can tell (if you look very closely) that Ron Howard was resorting to using a comb over. There's even a tight shot of Richie's head when he's getting drunk (that scene involving him punching Fonzie). I suppose he sported that cheesy mustache in order to distract people from his receeding hairline.

That mustache WAS cheesy. :eek: :lol: By the time Ron left HD in 1980s, he was in his mid-20s and you could definitely tell his hairline was receeding. The following year, he starred in the TV movie Bitter Harvest, where he played a farmer and wore a ballcap on his head most of the time. When he didn't have it on, his hair was definitely combed over.

I think that male pattern baldness is a trademark in Ron Howard's family because he's brother Clint is bald now too. :lol: