Gary Friedkin dead at 70: Happy Days star, who played Ewok in Star Wars, passes away in Ohio after long battle with COVID-19
- The veteran actor passed away with his family by his side at Hospice House in Youngstown, Ohio, due to complications from the novel coronavirus.
- Previously, he had endured a three and a half week challenge battling COVID-19 in the medical intensive care unit at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
- One of Friedkin’s signature roles was playing Clarence in three episodes of Happy Days in 1982.
- He also played an Ewok in the iconic 1983 movie Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.
Gary Friedkin, who starred in Happy Days and Star Wars, has died at age 70 after a long battle with COVID-19.
The veteran actor passed away with his family by his side at Hospice House in Youngstown, Ohio, due to complications from the novel coronavirus.
He had previously endured a challenging three and a half weeks battling COVID-19 in the medical intensive care unit (ICU) at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, according to his obituary in the Tribute Chronicle Posted earlier this week.
Sad: Gary Friedkin, who starred in Happy Days and Star Wars, has died at 70 after a long battle with COVID-19
One of Friedkin’s signature roles was playing Clarence in three episodes of Happy Days in 1982. Here he appears with lead actor Henry Winkler in an episode that aired in September 1982.
One of Friedkin’s signature roles was playing Clarence in three episodes of Happy Days in 1982.
He also played an Ewok in the iconic 1983 movie Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.
The fictional species in the sci-fi mega-franchise are small, furry bipeds and mammals that spoke in a language inspired by Kalmuck in Mongolia and Tagalog from the Philippines.
One of Friedkin’s signature roles was playing Clarence in three episodes of Happy Days in 1982. He is pictured with Rita Wilson and Henry Winkler.
His acting career on the big screen had begun just a year earlier when he played a character named Wedgie in the Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher comedy Under The Rainbow.
He also played a creature in a 1986 episode of Twilight Zone, as Fiddy in 1987’s live-action Snow White, and as Mash in 1992’s Cool World.
Friedkin’s last big screen acting role was playing Shorty in the 2016 film Mother’s Day, which featured an all-star cast including Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Shay Mitchell, Timothy Olyphant and Jason Sudeikis.
Iconic: He also played an Ewok in the iconic 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (a general shot of an Ewok with the characters R2-D2 and C-3PO
The fictional species in the sci-fi mega-franchise are small, furry, mammalian bipeds, who spoke in a language inspired by Kalmuck in Mongolia and Tagalog from the Philippines (a general snapshot of an Ewok from Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi).