'' (1974). Back, L–R:Gavan O'Herlihy,
Tom Bosley. Front:
Ron Howard,
Marion Ross and
Erin Moran O'Herlihy's highest-profile role was as Jack Petachi, brother of
Domino in the 1983
James Bond movie
Never Say Never Again. He has over thirty screen credits to his name, most of them in villainous or antagonistic roles such as
Superman III,
Death Wish 3 and
The Last Outlaw. His role as Airk Thaughbaer in the 1988 fantasy
Willow is one of the few heroic roles that he has portrayed, as well as that of the dashing American
Loyalist officer from Virginia
Captain Leroy in ''
Sharpe's Eagle''. He appeared in
Rich Man, Poor Man and
Tales From The Crypt. In 1994, he starred as John Garrideb in "
The Mazarin Stone" from Granada TV's
Sherlock Holmes series. The events of the story were rewritten and merged with
The Adventure of the Three Garridebs. He was cast as the eldest sibling, Chuck Cunningham, on
Happy Days. He played Chuck during
season 1 until the episode "Give the Band a Hand" and was replaced for
season 2 by
Randolph Roberts until the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas". Chuck was not seen again but was later mentioned in a few other episodes ending with "Fish and the Fins". After that, Chuck was written off the show completely with later episodes depicting the Cunningham family with only two children with
Richie as the elder. The character gave rise to the pejorative term "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome", referring to characters who disappear from TV shows without an in-universe explanation and are later
retconned to have never existed. O'Herlihy did not want to become stuck in television roles, preferring films. He played a warrior in the
George Lucas production
Willow, directed by his
Happy Days brother,
Ron Howard. He also appeared in the pilot episode of
Star Trek: Voyager, "
Caretaker", as the
Kazon First Maje, Jabin. He also appeared in
The Six Million Dollar Man and
The Bionic Woman television series. O'Herlihy was cast as sadistic killer Dan Suggs in the 1989 miniseries
Lonesome Dove. After playing the role of a crooked
RCMP officer in
Twin Peaks (which also featured his father), O'Herlihy permanently relocated to the UK, where he preferred to work in the theatre and on television, with roles on British television, including
Coded Hostile,
Sharpe,
Jonathan Creek and
Midsomer Murders. In 2009, O'Herlihy returned to the big screen as Sheriff Vaines in the follow-up to Neil Marshall's cult horror film,
The Descent Part 2, and over a decade later returned to the screen again to play the leading role of writer John Anderson for director Nic Saunders in
Queen of the Redwood Mountains, a film inspired by the authors of the
Beat Generation, and due for release in 2026. ==Personal life==