Linda Purl was spotted this week picking up a cake and groceries from a Gelson’s Market in Los Angeles.
The “Happy Days” star turned 71 years old on Wednesday.
Purl played Henry Winkler’s character Fonzie’s fiancée, single mom Ashley Pfister, during the 1970s and ‘80s sitcom’s second-to-last season. She also played a different character who occasionally dated Richie Cunningham, played by Ron Howard, in the show’s second season.
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Purl also played Andy Griffith’s daughter on “Matlock” in the 1980s and Pam Beesley’s mother who briefly dated Michael Scott.
The seasoned actress, who has been in a relationship with “Dallas” star Patrick Duffy for six years, kept it casual as she shopped, wearing a red baseball cap, long-sleeve blue top and black pants.
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The couple have been together since 2020, when they reconnected during the pandemic.
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Purl continues to act with roles on “General Hospital,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “After Forever” and the movie “Hollywood Grit,” which she stars in alongside Duffy and Tyrese Gibson, in the last few years.
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The actress, who is also a singer, just released a new album this summer, “From My Heart,” which is a mix of Great American Songbook classics and jazz, and she’s starring in an off-Broadway one-woman play this month called “Crazy Mama.”
The show, playing on 59th Street in Manhattan, is directed by Purl’s former “Happy Days” costar Anson Williams, who played Potsie on the show. The show was written by Anson’s wife, Sharon Scott Williams.
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“The play is directed by my dear friend of many decades now, fellow actor, Anson Williams,” she told BroadwayWorld. “We first met when we working together on ‘Happy Days.’ At the time, we thought we were just young kids bouncing off to a swell place to work. Little did we know that we also were planting seeds that would come to new fruition this far into our lives.”
She also talked about the sourdough bread company that she started six years ago with Duffy.
“Right from the get-go we wanted all of our profits to go to food scarcity efforts,” she explained. “Think, Newman‘s Own wannabes. It was a terrible business model because once you buy a sourdough starter, which is what we were selling, you never have to buy it again, so we knew we had to find somebody who’d take us on, bake the bread and distribute it.”
For the last year, she said she and Duffy have been traveling around to Kroger stores across the country sharing their bread.
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“We just passed the 2,300 stores mark,” she boasted. “All the years we were working out of the garage we managed to give away a whopping $250. Since going with Kroger, I am astonished to say that along with them we have just passed the 200K amount in support to food scarcity efforts. It’s a drop in the bucket, but the statistics on hunger in America are staggering, so we’ll plug along as long as Kroger will have us. It has been an adventure to say the least.”
She told Fox News Digital in 2022 that “Happy Days” was one of her first jobs in Los Angeles.
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“I went in, I auditioned, and I happened to get the role,” she said of her season two stint on the show. “I came back many years later as an entirely different character. That came about because there was a casting notice [saying] they were looking for ‘a Linda Purl type.’ My agent called and said, ‘Do you think Linda could audition for this Linda Purl type?’ And I did. And thank heavens I got the role. Otherwise, I think I would’ve gone into some kind of identity crisis.”
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Purl said, “everything about that set was fun. The regular cast members were all friends and they’ve remained lifelong friends… We are a tight bunch.”
She added, “There was an atmosphere on the set of ‘Happy Days’ where, when you opened the door to that sound stage on the Paramount lot, you would just leave your [troubles] behind and come into this kind of bubble, a world where things were sweet, light and joyful… I think all of that feel-good vibe came into the performances that we were able to do.”
Fox News’ Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
