Fellow ex-child stars claim Erin Moran refused their help before her death

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Happy Days star Erin Moran dies aged 560:55

Erin Moran, best known for her role as Joanie Cunningham on the 70s sitcom Happy Days, has died aged 56

• April 23rd 2017
• 2 days ago
• /video/video.news.com.au/Entertainment/

A number of former child stars reportedly tried to reach out to Moran before her death.

HAPPY Days actress Erin Moran refused help from fellow former child stars as her life spiralled out of control, a child-actor advocate said Sunday.

Police found Moran, 56, who played Joanie Cunningham on the iconic ’70s sitcom, unconscious in the US state of Indiana, before she was pronounced dead on Saturday.

Erin Moran was found dead on Saturday at the age of 56. (GETTY/Frazer Harrison)Source:AFP

“I am proud of our efforts over the years to help Erin Moran, whose troubles were many and complex,” Paul Petersen, who runs the child-actor advocacy group ‘A Minor Consideration,’ said in a Facebook post.

“At least a half-dozen ‘formers’ were actively reaching out to Erin in the last week of her life,” he said.

Petersen, who was a child star on The Donna Reed Show, said Moran had friends in Paris, London, New York and Los Angeles all trying to help.

Actors Shelly Fabares, Paul Petersen, Donna Reed and Carl Betz in The Donna Reed Show.Source:News Corp Australia

“Erin had friends and she knew it. Abandonment was not the issue. The perversity of human frailty is at the root of this loss, not failure,” wrote Petersen.

“We did our best with the resources available to us, but it was a very dark room. Some don’t find the light switch in time.”

Moran appeared in 239 of 255 Happy Days episodes between 1974 and 1984, and starred in the spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi.

Erin Moran (centre) with her Happy Days co-stars.Source:Supplied

She led a low-key poststardom life until 2012, when she and her husband were evicted from their Indiana trailer park.

Reports chronicled Moran’s drinking and odd behaviour.

Harrison County sheriff’s deputies declined comment on Sunday, only saying that they got a 911 call at 4:07pm on Saturday and found an unresponsive Moran.

“It was determined that Erin Marie Moran Fleischmann was deceased. An autopsy is pending,” according to a sheriff’s statement.

“May people remember Erin for her contagious smile, warm heart, and animal-loving soul,” her co-star Scott Baio tweeted on Sunday.

“I always hoped she could find peace in her life. God has you now, Erin.”

Erin Moran with her co-star Scott Baio in 1982. (Photo by Fotos International/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

Moran’s Happy Days mum, Marion Ross, also said Sunday she wished to remember the former child star in better times.

“This breaks my heart,” Ross, 88, told NBC. “She was the quickest, fastest little kid. Wonderful.”

Moran is the fourth regular cast member of the show to die since Happy Days went off the air in 1984 — following TV dad Tom Bosley (2010) and Arnold’s owners Al Molinaro (2015) and Pat Morita (2005).

This article originally appeared on The New York Post and has been republished here with permission.