Tom Bosley Biography

Fast Facts

• Was No․ 9 on TV Guide's 2004 list of the greatest television dads of all time
• Worked as a hat checker and a doorman to finance his early forays into acting, which consisted of work in small theaters and television dramas
• When not playing a suburban father, he was sometimes cast as small-time crooks or pathetic losers
• Many of the roles he played, including his most well-known characters, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia from the musical "Fiorello!" and father Howard Cunningham on the sitcom "Happy Days," exuded paternal authority
• Early in his career, while performing in a small play outside of Chicago, he got so nervous that he obsessively read over his lines backstage, lost track of the progress of the play, and entered the stage several minutes early
• Loved baseball so much that he originally wanted to work as a sports announcer
• Joined the navy near the end of World War II, after graduating from high school