Danny Tanner
Daniel Ernest Tanner (born
1957) was the father on the TV series
Full House. He was played by
Bob Saget. Danny was obsessed with cleaning and making his house spotless. He was brother in law to
Jesse Katsopolis, friend to
Joey Gladstone, and father of
D.J. Tanner,
Stephanie Tanner, and
Michelle Tanner.
The very conservatively dressed Danny seems out of place in San Francisco. He likely moved out to San Francisco after his parents divorced, as in the episode "Terror in Tanner Town" he mentions living through a divorce when he was about the age of the mischievous son of a woman he liked, Cindy.
Danny had several girlfriends on the show, the closest being
Vicki Larson, whom he met while she was filling in for
Rebecca Donaldson on the talk show Danny and Rebecca co-starred in, Wake Up Francisco, when Rebecca was out on maternity leave. Danny often dated beautiful models despite the fact that he was a dork and very skinny. Vicki and Danny had a long distance relationship when she took a job in Chicago, but eventually got engaged after Danny proposed to her at the fireworks dispaly during the family trip to Disney World. When they broke up in mid-season seven so Vicki could take a job anchoring the news in New York, Danny began rearranging everything in the house because of his sadness.
Throughout the entire lifespan of the show, Danny is continuously obsessed with two things: cleanliness and group hugs. He is said to be a "Lean, Mean, Cleaning Machine" and a "Lean, Mean, Hugging Machine."
This leads to the distinct possibility that several character traits are heightened because of lingering sadness over his wife's death. While he mentions a love of cleaning existing from when he was little, because he wanted to be like his mom (Claire Tanner, portrayed by
Doris Roberts), he is much more obsessed with it in early episodes than he likely ever was before
Pam's death. Likewise, his reluctance to ever discipline Michelle may be because of sadness deep down over the fact Michelle doesn't have a mother, and also not having Pam there to ask about how to handle things. Indeed, even with the oldest, D.J., he talks about how things would be so much better if Pam were around in season seven's "The Apartment."
In the episode, "The Perfect Couple", Danny reveals on a game show that his worst nightmare is being in a crowded health spa and standing naked on a stairmaster.
The car he drives is a
Ford Taurus. Also, he drives a red Ford Torino as seen in the intro of Full House and in the episode "The Big Three-O". (Aka bullet)
