Henry Winkler Talks Ron Howard Friendship and How Fonz’s Fame Hurt Him
- Henry Winkler discusses how Fonzie's popularity on Happy Days affected co-star Ron Howard, leading to a shift in focus from Richie to Fonzie.
Ask any Happy Days fan and they’ll tell you—Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (played by Henry Winkler) was the heartthrob of the series. But in a new interview, Winkler shared how his skyrocketing fame as Fonzie affected co-star Ron Howard—who admitted the shift in focus from Richie to Fonzie “hurt” his feelings. Scroll on to read Winkler’s full statement.
Henry Winkler opens up about Fonzie’s popularity
When Happy Days began airing in 1974, Howard’s Richie was the central focus, but as time passed, the popularity of the Fonzie character quickly became a pop culture phenomenon, with the media’s attention shifting to that character. Additionally, ABC wanted to cash in on the situation by changing the show’s name to Fonzie’s Happy Days and making Winkler the de facto star. Ron Howard was not having it, and neither was Winkler or series creator Garry Marshall. Still, the attempted shift in focus stung, though in the end Happy Days became a two-lead series.
“Ron understood two things ,” Winkler points out. “First of all, he is a very good friend of mine. Ron, his daughter [Bryce Dallas Howard] , who is our goddaughter, and my daughter [Zoe Winkler], we all did my daughter's podcast, What in the Winkler?! We were all in my living room doing the podcast together, and that was two weeks ago. [Back then] Ron said to me, ‘I have to admit it, it hurts my feelings, and I have to admit you are doing nothing to make anybody feel bad. You're just being good, and that's good for the show.’”
Winkler also said that “that was the only time” he and Howard had discussed the show in that way, and that the way things ultimately unfolded made the show better and preserved a friendship that has, at this point, spanned over 50 years.
Mindas /TV Guide.©ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Howard left the series in Season 7, after starring in 170 episodes, to pursue his directorial career. He did return for two episodes in Season 11, though. On the other hand, Winkler remained on the show for its entire run and became the central character following Howard’s departure.
“What that show gave me in my life, on every level, the warmth that I receive walking through the world because of that character,” Winkler told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . “For 50 years, people have come up to me everywhere in the world and metaphysically embraced me.
“Young people come up and say, ‘Oh my God,’ and they start crying and they say, ‘I used to watch this with my grandmother or my grandfather. This was our activity. We would watch Happy Day s and laugh together.’ It was a show that brought the entire family under one television as opposed to everybody watching their own TV in their own rooms.”
Henry Winkler spills on the ‘Happy Days’ ending
After 225 episodes, 11 seasons and 1 Primetime Emmy award, Happy Days officially came to a close in September 1984.
“What I didn't realize was just how difficult it was going to be to get out of the shadow of the character,” Winkler shared. “You have to try and reinvent yourself. There's more than one road."
" Life is not over when the show is over. You have to create that life.”
Following the conclusion of Happy Days , Winkler said that his lawyer told him, “‘I'm going to start a production company for you.’ I said, ‘I can't do that because I'm dyslexic. I don't understand any of that.’ He said, ‘You'll learn.’”
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The actor has since produced over 40 different projects, with his first one being MacGyver , which initially ran from 1985 to 1992 before being rebooted in both TV movie and series form.
“I became a producer, and the first show I produced was MacGyver . And then I went to Broadway with John Ritter, rest his soul. And I came back, and I couldn't get hired again,” Winkler said. “I met Lin Oliver and wrote our first children's book about my life as a dyslexic, a comedy about a little boy who is learning challenged, and it turned into 40 books. The last one was on The New York Times Bestseller list.”
Winkler is 79 years old and has been married to his wife Stacey Weitzman since 1978. They have two children together.
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