Linda Purl Recounts Taking Ron Howard and Anson Williams Around Japan During “Happy Days” USO Tour

Virginia ChamleeTue, September 29, 2026 at 7:27 PM UTC

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Linda Purl, Ron Howard, Anson WilliamsCredit: Robin L Marshall/Getty; Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Rachel Luna/Getty -

Linda Purl reflected on a meaningful USO tour in Japan with the Happy Days cast

The trip was special for Purl, who grew up in Japan from ages 5 to 15

She acted as a tour guide for her costars, showing them places tied to her childhood and acting career

Linda Purl is sharing details of a trip she took to Japan with the cast of Happy Days.

Speaking on a new episode of the Still Here Hollywood Podcast w/ Steve Kmetko, Purl, 71, shared that it was a full-circle moment for her, as she grew up in Japan from the ages of 5 to 15.

“When I was doing Happy Days, we would do USO tours,” Purl, whose family relocated to Japan during her father’s time as an engineer, said. “And so at some point we did a long USO tour through Japan. And that blew my mind because we would have some days off. I never imagined that those two experiences in my brain — which were so disparate — would come together.”

Anson Williams, Linda Purl and Ron Howard on ‘Happy Days’Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Purl said that she acted as a tour guide of sorts for her costars, including Ron Howard, Don Most and Anson Williams.

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“I took Anson and Ron and Donnie ... and, you know, several of the other actors and some of the writers and just took them for a couple days on a tour,” Purl said. “We went to the theater where I had worked at many times ... it’s sort of a montage in my mind but there they were, in one reality, for a brief moment and that was fascinating.”

Happy Days aired on ABC from 1974 to 1984 and followed the Cunningham family and their friends in Wisconsin in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ron Howard starred as Richie Cunningham, a strait-laced Wisconsin teen who hung out with his friends — including his edgy motorcycle-riding smooth-talker best friend, Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler).

Purl got her start on Happy Days in season 2 as Richie’s part-time girlfriend Gloria, but she returned to the series as a different character, Ashley Pfister, who seriously dated Fonzie in season 10.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”