Tom Bosley talks about his new movie, 'Happy Days'

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He will always be Richie Cunningham's father ("Mr. C") on television's "Happy Days" (1974-84). But before actor Tom Bosley played the patriarch to the perfect '50s family, he had been around the proverbial show business block on the stage, screen and TV. At 80, he stars in the Hallmark Channel movie "Charlie and Me," playing an ailing grandfather with one last task to accomplish before he goes. It premieres Saturday.Q: Acting has served you well. Has it been everything you thought it would be?A: Well, honey, it's gonna be 60 years in April. If it hadn't been that satisfying to me, I might have been in some other kind of profession a long time ago. But I'm very well pleased.Q: In "Charlie and Me," your character is very calm about dying.A: He wasn't concerned about dying as much as he was concerned about getting his son to connect with his granddaughter. He'd been doing it for eight years, and he knew he was going and there was something he had to do before he left, and that was unite them. Of course, he didn't want to go when he did. He knew it was going to happen. It's just one of those things.Q: Are you are afraid of it?A: As of this moment, I am not afraid of it. I walk, I talk, I can lift things. I do have arthritis, but it's under reasonable control. My wife and I are trying to enjoy our senior years as well as we can.Q: You have grandchildren. Will any of them watch this movie? It is a tearjerker.A: I have seven. I think, yes. I think my oldest, who is 20, will, and the next one, who is 17, will, and the one who is 13 will. The others are all 9 and under. That will be up to their parents to decide if they watch the show. It's not very important to those kids. Two of them have a father who is a huge film producer in the business. My other daughter is head of the new CBS film department for television.Q: You are such a father figure. What was your own father like?A: My father was a wonderful, sweet man who lost everything he had gained in the Depression in '29 or '30, whenever it was. Our area of living conditions went from a beautiful home in suburban Chicago with a chauffeur -- my father never drove -- and a cook, to an apartment. Then my dad had difficulty recouping, and he and my mother separated after 16 years of marriage. He found a different way of life. He returned to the military. He had served in World War I. Although we loved him and we were close to him, I don't think my brother and I ever really got to know him.Q: Were there any unhappy days on "Happy Days"?A: We were very close. During the course of the show, our director Jerry Paris lost his wife, I lost my wife. We had marriages and babies. We were close. We've gone on with our lives pretty much. We talk to each other occasionally.Q: Other than your family and acting, what gives you the most pleasure?A: The greatest pleasure, of course, my grandchildren. We have three daughters and a son, but we lost him. My (second) wife and I are finding a part of our life now that was too busy with others. Now it's she and I, and we are moving to Rancho Mirage, Calif. We just sold our house, and we are moving at the end of the year. We had Christmas with no trees, bells, lights or anything but a lot of packing. This is what we wanted at this stage of the game. For us this is the future, and we take it as it comes.(Patricia Sheridan can be reached at psheridan(at)post-gazette.com)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)