The Real Reason Don Most's Ralph Malph Left Happy Days
By the 1970s, pop culture had been around long enough to start being nostalgic for itself. Among the many ways that nostalgia manifested was in the TV show "Happy Days," a sitcom set in the '50s and '60s as a celebration of that era. The show centered primarily around the Cunningham family, specifically teenager Richie (Ron Howard), his younger sister Joanie (Erin Moran), and the various people in their social circle. The show mostly took place either at the Cunningham home or local hotspot Arnold's Drive-In, where every young person in Milwaukee seemed to hang out.
Among the non-Cunningham pals that filled out the "Happy Days" ensemble was Ralph Malph (Don Most), whose jokes often fell hilariously flat and who typically struck out with the ladies from Season 2 through Season 7. But in Season 8, Ralph was gone, returning only for a two-episode guest stint in the show's 11th and final season. It seemed that Most was unhappy with both the direction of the show as well as his career as a whole, and decided that Ralph's "Happy Days" were to come to an end.
Don Most worried he was too closely associated with Ralph Malph
There is a very long list of actors who struggled for work because their famous roles were too iconic. This is something that seems especially common among TV actors, who hit it big with a particular character and then have to spend the rest of their lives trying to break out of that character's shadow.
Don Most began to sense that this might be a possibility for him after seven seasons playing Ralph Malph on "Happy Days," which is half of the reason he decided to leave the show several years before it actually ended. As he told Pop Goes the Culture TV in 2021, "I was concerned I was getting so associated with that role that it was gonna be more and more difficult for me to break away."
The other factor in why Most left "Happy Days" was that the show was no longer as good as it used to be. He wasn't wrong on that point, as "Happy Days" not only had one of the biggest "jump the shark" moments in TV history, but had the original "jump the shark" moment — a notorious stunt that Fonzie (Henry Winkler) pulled in Season 5 where he literally jumped a shark on water skis. By Season 7, when Most semi-retired Ralph Malph, "Happy Days" was already more than two seasons into its post-jump era. So it seemed like a pretty good time for Most to leave the show before it presumably continued to get even worse.
Most thought he'd get more work if he turned down a raise
It wasn't just an arbitrary choice that the end of Season 7 is when Don Most left "Happy Days." He was actually up for contract renewal for Season 8, and decided to use the negotiations to feel things out in terms of the future of his career. Paramount, the studio that produced "Happy Days," was ready to up Most's salary significantly in order to entice him to stay on board. Feeling like that gave him the power to make demands, as it were, Most came up with an interesting counteroffer.
Most told Paramount that he was actually willing to keep doing "Happy Days" for his then-current pay. But in exchange for not taking the extra money, he wanted Paramount to allow him to explore other acting opportunities with the studio. To Most's surprise, Paramount wasn't interesting in doing that.
Now feeling more certain than ever that playing Ralph Malph was a rut that he desperately needed to get out of before he got even deeper into it, Most turned down Paramount entirely and did not return to "Happy Days" for Season 8. Considering that Most was willing to come back and play Ralph for those Season 11 guest spots, it seems that, at the very least, he didn't leave the show on bad terms – if not happy ones.