Gavan O’Herlihy (Wikipedia)
Gavan O’Herlihy is an Irish-American actor. He is best known for his role as the first Chuck Cunningham on Happy Days.
O’Herlihy was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Irish parents, actor Dan O’Herlihy and his wife, Sandymount native Elsie Bennett.
He attended Trinity College, Dublin and as an avid tennis player, he became Irish National Tennis Champion.
He has over thirty screen credits to his name, most of them in villainous or antagonistic roles such as Never Say Never Again, Superman III, Death Wish 3 and The Last Outlaw. His role as Airk Thaughbaer in the 1988 fantasy Willow is one of the few heroic roles that the burly, fair-haired Gavan has managed to get, as well as that of the dashing British officer from Virginia Captain Leroy in Sharpe’s Eagle.
He appeared in Rich Man, Poor Man and Tales From The Crypt. In 1994, he starred as John Garrideb in “The Mazarin Stone” from Granada TV’s Sherlock Holmes series. The events of the story were rewritten and merged with The Adventure of the Three Garridebs.
He was cast as the eldest sibling, Chuck Cunningham, on Happy Days. He was eventually replaced by Randolph Roberts until the episode “Guess Who’s Coming to Christmas”. O’Herlihy did not want to become stuck in television roles, preferring films. He played a warrior in the George Lucas production, Willow, directed by his Happy Days brother, Ron Howard. He also appeared in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager, “Caretaker“, as the Kazon First Maje, Jabin. He also appeared in The Six Million Dollar Man[2] and The Bionic Woman television series.
Gavan was cast as sadistic killer Dan Suggs in the 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove.