(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still / Raph_PH)
Sat 6 September 2025 16:15, UK
In acting, as in life, most people have a reticence to walk away from something when they have a good thing going. Unfortunately for Henry Winkler’s blood pressure, though, his best pal Ron Howard once did just that, and his decision was so jarring that ‘The Fonz’ thought his life was over.
From 1974 to 1980, Howard and Winkler were the crown princes of half-hour comedy, thanks to their roles as Richie Cunningham and Arthur Fonzarelli on ABC’s beloved sitcom, Happy Days.
Audiences loved watching the boyish, likeable Howard as the quintessential All-American teenager, whose goofy red hair and freckles made his constant scheming about new ways to meet girls seem wholesome. Winkler, of course, played ‘Fonzie’, the ultra-cool ‘greaser’ who was the polar opposite of Cunningham, which made them the perfect TV double act.
While working on the show, Howard and Winkler became close friends, and their comedic chemistry on-screen was undeniable. Few scenes wound up playing out exactly as scripted, because the two stars knew their characters so well and were comfortable with riffing when the opportunity arose. “When we worked together, there was something that happened out of the blue,” Winkler gushed to People magazine in 2025. “We had a shorthand with the script. He went where I went, I went where he went, and it became something else.”
This isn’t to say there weren’t bumps in the road, though. In the first season, Fonzarelli was a supporting character, but by season two, audiences had embraced him so thoroughly that the network suggested changing the show’s title to Fonzie’s Happy Days. Naturally, Howard felt insulted and threatened by that idea, and even threatened to quit if the network went through with its plan. Thankfully, Winkler stepped in and, with remarkable selflessness, told the suits that the show’s title shouldn’t be changed. “If you do that,” he pleaded, “it is an insult to everybody I’m working with. Why fix something that isn’t broken?”
Thankfully, the studio’s idiotic plan was nixed, and the show continued as normal. By the time season six came to an end, though, Howard wanted out for a very different reason. The older he got in the business, the more interested he became in directing. In ‘77, he was given the opportunity to direct his first movie by cult filmmaking icon Roger Corman, and he followed that up with a string of NBC TV movies, all while still performing on the show.
Things came to a head in ‘80 when ABC kicked up a fuss about Howard taking so much time away from Happy Days to direct. He realised he needed to walk away from the job that made him a household name if he wanted to achieve his dreams – but first, he needed to let his buddy know what he planned to do.
“There was a phone booth right by the front door of stage 19,” Winkler recalled, thinking back on the day he found out Howard was cutting bait. “They said, ‘Oh, the phone is for you, Henry.’” He strolled over to the booth, only to hear his friend say, “It’s going to come out in the press in about ten minutes, but I wanted you to know first, I’m not coming back.”
For a couple of moments, the shellshocked Winkler thought his whole world was going to collapse around his ears. This wasn’t just bad news; this was the worst news he could imagine. “My first thought was, ‘I’m going to die now,’” he admitted. “My great acting partner on this show – my good friend – is no longer going to be here. My life is over.”
To Winkler’s credit, that pity party didn’t last very long, and a few seconds after Howard dropped his bomb, he knew exactly what to say. “Ron, we’ve talked about this since the beginning,” Winkler magnanimously told his friend. “All you want to do is be a director. It’s in your DNA. Go and be the best you can be, and I cannot wait to see what you do.” Within two years, Winkler would star in Howard’s first studio movie, Night Shift, and all was right with their worlds.
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