Media Path Podcast Playing TV's Classic Characters & Show Biz Second Acts with Donny Most
Happy Days is the iconically classic 70s TV sensation about the 50s. Its legacy is unparalleled, its popularity ongoing. The show launched a character who remains the embodiment of cool, Fonzie, and it cemented its cast into icon status in perpetuity. That cast includes Donny Most, who played wise-cracking Ralph Malph, who, complete with his own catchphrase, “I still got it!” took a minor role and turned it into the stuff of legend.
Don joins us this week to look back on his decades in Hollywood, the magic formula that brought Happy Days to fruition, and created a lasting legacy, and his tireless pursuit of creative expression that continues to keep his schedule full and fulfilling.
Don shares stories about his first foray into show business, as a Catskills performing teen, his early guest starring roles on Emergency and Room 222, how he dropped out of college to maintain his acting momentum and landed a small role on Happy Days which he initially turned down until a fateful basketball playing encounter between his manager and Garry Marshall upped the incentives and sealed the deal. Donny and his cast-mates developed a strong, life-long bond which he credits to the collaborative set atmosphere, the genius of Garry Marshall and the strong example set by Ron Howard, which helped anchor egos aboard the Happy Days rocket ride.
Type-casting came with the Happy Days territory and it took years or hard work on stage for new opportunities to present themselves. Don has since gone into directing and producing and his most recent roles are the most compelling and diverse of his career.
Potsie took most of the lead vocals in the Happy Days band but Donny has been a singer since childhood and his most recent big-band, American Songbook recording, New York High has a BBC reviewer calling him, “The new Sinatra.”
All this plus the truth behind the lawsuit against CBS, Happy Days trivia and Don’s dramatic Baywatch rescue!
And, in recommendations, Fritz and Weezy are discussing Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval and Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story, both on Netflix.
Path Points of Interest:
Ellen DeGeneres: or Your Approval on Netflix