NEED TO KNOW
Didi Conn’s Happy Days role came due to a chance meeting in an elevator
Conn tells PEOPLE that she and Henry Winkler became friends and he helped her land a role on the hit series
The actress stars in a new Laura Geller Beauty campaign inspired by her iconic “Beauty School Dropout” scene from Grease
Long before she became beloved by generations of fans as Frenchie in 1978’s Grease, Didi Conn landed a role on Happy Days, thanks to an unexpected encounter with one of the show’s biggest stars: The Fonz, himself.
Speaking with PEOPLE in an exclusive interview tied to her new campaign for Laura Geller Beauty, 74-year-old Conn recalled how a chance meeting with Henry Winkler in New York ultimately led to her appearance on the hit series.
“Well, this is such a crazy thing,” Conn says. “I was doing a lot of commercials when I first started in New York, and a lot of times you’re thrown into a room and somebody’s got to be your husband or you’re on your honeymoon with some guy, [something] like that.”
After one audition, Conn found herself riding an elevator with a man who looked familiar.
“And I’m coming down an elevator after an audition and I look at this guy, I say, ‘Hey, how are you?’ And he looks at me, he says, ‘Oh, I’m good. How are you?’ ” she recalls. “And it was about 16 floors. By the time we got to the bottom, he says, ‘You want to have some coffee?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ “
At the time, Conn was convinced she recognized him from a previous acting job.
“I was sure that I knew him, maybe played my husband or something,” she says.
The pair sat down together, and Conn tried to place him.
“We sit down and I say, ‘So what [have] you been up to?’ And he says, ‘Well, Happy Days.’ “
Henry WInkler
Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty
That’s when it clicked, she tells PEOPLE.
“And I knew it. I had seen him on Happy Days — it was Henry Winkler. I didn’t know,” the Shining Time Station actress stated. “I had just said, ‘Well, this is where acting comes in.’ “
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She continues: “And we talked and talked and I said, ‘Hey, you know, I’m moving to California in a couple of months.’ He says, ‘Here’s my number, call me.’ “
Not long after arriving in California, Conn received an audition for the show.
“I got an audition for Happy Days, it was my first audition,” she says. “So I called him to tell him.”
She adds: “When I went to Paramount and I was shown to the office where the audition was, guess who was there and he read with me?”
Though she didn’t learn immediately whether she had landed the role, the answer soon came.
“I didn’t find out right away that I got the part, but when I walked away and I’m on the Paramount lot, this Brooklyn girl looking around,” she says. “I called up my agent and they had heard that I got it.”
Conn adds: “I was so happy and I thanked Henry, and we stayed very good friends.”
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The actress recently partnered with Laura Geller Beauty for a nostalgic campaign promoting the brand’s Full Root-ine Hair & Brow Concealing Cream + Powder.
In a playful nod to her memorable “Beauty School Dropout” scene from Grease, Conn stars in a tongue-in-cheek “Beauty Service Announcement” encouraging women to skip expensive salon visits in favor of simple at-home beauty solutions.
The campaign launched as an Amazon Prime Day exclusive on June 22.
Read the original article on People