Henry Winkler says Ron Howard was “hurt” when his Happy Days character was eclipsed by Winkler’s.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published Monday, March 31, the Barry Emmy winner was asked how Howard, who originally played Happy Days lead Richie Cunningham, felt about Winkler’s Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli becoming the show’s breakout star.
Winkler revealed that he and Howard have only ever discussed the issue once, while recording a recent episode of daughter Zoe Winkler’s podcast, What in the Winkler?!, with the Hillbilly Elegy director and his own daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard.
“Ron understood two things. First of all, he is a very good friend of mine. Ron, his daughter, who is our goddaughter, and my daughter, we all did my daughter’s podcast ‘What in the Winkler?!’ ” the actor, 79, recounted. “We were all in my living room doing the podcast together, and that was two weeks ago. 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.’ That was the only time we discussed it.”
Winkler’s character first appeared in Happy Days’ 1974 premiere and was a recurring character throughout the first season. But Fonzie quickly grew in popularity, and Winkler was promoted to series regular in season 2, continuing to portray the character for the rest of the show’s 11-season run. Howard, on the other hand, left Happy Days after season 7, returning as a guest star in its final season.
In the decades since the beloved series ended, Winkler and the Fonz have become more or less synonymous with Happy Days.
“I loved doing that show,” Winkler told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “What that show gave me in my life, on every level, the warmth that I receive walking through the world because of that character.”
Because of Happy Days, Winkler said, “for 50 years, people have come up to me everywhere in the world and metaphysically embraced me.”
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But if Howard felt overshadowed by the Fonz, Winkler did as well, at least in the years immediately following Happy Days’ 1984 series finale.
“What I didn’t realize was just how difficult it was going to be to get out of the shadow of the character,” Winkler said. “So, as I said, you have to reinvent yourself and you have to try. There’s more than one road. Life is not over when the show is over. You have to create that life.”
Both Winkler and Howard went on to have extremely successful post-Happy Days careers. Howard has directed beloved films like Splash, Willow and Apollo 13, and won two Academy Awards for 2001’s A Beautiful Mind. Winkler, meanwhile, made memorable appearances in films like Scream (1996) and The Waterboy, as well as in shows like Parks and Recreation and Arrested Development. His role in HBO’s Barry earned him a 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
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