“Happy Days” built its appeal on 1950s nostalgia and an ensemble led by Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, but the popular comedy also became a showcase for an eclectic lineup of guest performers during its run in the 1970s and early ’80s.

Some visitors were already well known, including “Howdy Doody” star Buffalo Bob Smith, baseball legend Hank Aaron and “Sgt. Bilko” actor Phil Silvers. Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, also appeared in later episodes. Other performers arrived before landing the roles that would make them more recognizable.

Creator Garry Marshall credited the regular cast with helping those guests shine. “‘Happy Days’ happened to be a cast of people who were basically secure and nice,” Marshall said in a 2014 interview with Chortle. “And so when I brought on guest stars, they gave them a lot of room to work.”

Here are five familiar faces whose trips to the world of Richie Cunningham and the Fonz may have slipped from viewers’ memories.

Ed Begley Jr.

After beginning his television and film career in the late 1960s, Ed Begley Jr. spent much of the following decade making individual appearances across numerous series. That included “The Deadly Dares,” a Season 1 installment of “Happy Days.”

The episode follows Richie after he strikes out at a school dance while classmate Bag, played by Neil J. Schwartz, succeeds with the same girl. Richie concludes that joining Bag’s gang, the Demons, could boost his popularity. Potsie, played by Anson Williams, tells him that Fonzie is a former member, prompting Richie to seek the Fonz’s guidance about initiation.

When Richie and Fonzie meet Bag and Hank, played by Begley, they are confronted with a lengthy series of stunts required for membership.

Begley later appeared as Shirley’s brother Bobby on “Laverne & Shirley” and in Marshall’s 1982 feature directorial debut, “Young Doctors in Love.” That same year, he began playing Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the six-season medical drama “St. Elsewhere.” One of his more recognizable recent television parts was another physician, Dr. Grant Linkletter on “Young Sheldon.”

Cheryl Ladd

Before Cheryl Ladd was cast as Kris Munroe on “Charlie’s Angels” in 1977, she took on an array of shorter television jobs. One of those was Cindy Shea, a teen idol who becomes Richie’s prize date in the Season 2 episode “Wish Upon a Star.”

Ladd began her career as the singing voice of Melody on Hanna-Barbera’s animated “Josie and the Pussycats.” Looking back on “Happy Days,” she described the appearance as “one of the little jewels of my career” during an interview with “Pop Goes the Culture TV.”

The episode also gave Ladd her first on-screen kiss, opposite Howard. She recalled that Cindy would lift her leg when kissed by a leading man in her movies. When Cindy repeats the move with Richie as Ralph and Potsie watch, the pair react as though their friend has finally made it.

Richie’s evening takes a less celebratory turn after Cindy invites him to her hotel room. He then learns that the photographer who has been accompanying her is actually her husband.

Morgan Fairchild

Morgan Fairchild’s first sitcom role came in the fifth-season episode “My Fair Fonzie.” Fairchild had started her acting career on the CBS daytime drama “Search for Tomorrow” before moving from Manhattan to Los Angeles in 1977.

In the episode, Fairchild plays Cynthia, a wealthy young woman who catches Fonzie’s attention at Arnold’s but remains unmoved by his customary charm. Cynthia looks down on his manners, and she and her cousin Millard — known to his friends as Skippy and played by Sam Freed — invite him to a formal country-club party in an attempt to embarrass him. Fonzie ultimately reverses the situation on them.

Fairchild later recalled the significance of landing the job so soon after her move. “When I first came out here, one of my early jobs was playing Fonzie’s new girlfriend on ‘Happy Days,’” she said on the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast. “How much better can it get for a girl in 1977?”

Janine Turner

Several years before her breakout role on “Northern Exposure,” Janine Turner appeared in the Season 11 episode “Where the Guys Are.” The story finds Fonzie struggling after his breakup with his steady girlfriend Ashley, played by Linda Purl.

Hoping to improve his mood, Potsie, Chachi and Roger — played by Williams, Scott Baio and Ted McGinley — trick Fonzie into attending a singles camp. Once there, the three men meet three single women, including Turner’s character. The women lure them into a sauna, lock them inside and take their wallets.

Fonzie has a more restorative encounter, sharing a candid conversation with a young woman played by Wilson that helps lift his spirits.

Turner revisited the episode in 2025 after a man approached her at the Fanboy Expo in Knoxville, Tennessee, carrying a promotional image of Turner and Baio. Writing on Instagram, she said it was “quite the experience” to see at age 62 what she had looked like at 21, adding, “Was my waist truly ever that small! Such fun!”

Crispin Glover

Crispin Glover was still early in his acting career when he played the disruptive student Roach in Season 11’s “Vocational Education.” In the episode, Fonzie believes he is better equipped than Roger to run George S. Patton Vocational High School. Roger may be Yale-educated, but he lacks the street smarts needed to manage its difficult students.

Roach quickly becomes one of his biggest problems. The character steals Roger’s wallet, knocks his chair out from beneath him and repeatedly tries to get expelled.

Before “Happy Days,” Glover had appeared on “The Facts of Life” as a character credited only as Cadet No. 1. His episode of “Happy Days” aired in 1983, the same year he made his film debut in “My Tutor.” Two years later, he played George McFly, the father of Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly, in the Robert Zemeckis-directed “Back to the Future.”