{"id":878558,"date":"2026-10-11T12:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878558\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T12:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:30:08","slug":"happy-days-star-anson-williams-revealed-he-picked-up-singing-as-second-career-because-sitcom-pay-wasnt-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878558\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Days star Anson Williams revealed he picked up singing as second career because sitcom pay wasnt enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

When playing Potsie Weber on \u201cHappy Days\u201d didn\u2019t pay well enough, actor Anson Williams <\/a>came up with a side hustle: a music career.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview on the \u201cStill Here Hollywood Podcast,\u201d<\/a> the 77-year-old actor revealed the singing sideline was simply a matter of 1970s economics.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn \u2018Happy Days\u2019 we didn\u2019t have the same salaries they have today. Not even close,\u201d he said. \u201cNine hundred dollars an episode, $1,200 an episode. It was fine back then, but\u2026it\u2019s not a lifetime of earnings there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams said that after speaking to \u201cPartridge Family\u201d star David Cassidy and Barry Williams, of \u201cThe Brady Bunch,\u201d about how much money they were making by taking their singing acts off the show, he thought to himself, \u201cWait a minute. I sing. If I can convince Garry to put a band on the show, maybe I can get booked, and maybe I can get some extra income.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After speaking with the show\u2019s creator, Garry Marshall, about the possibility of putting together a band to perform at Arnold\u2019s, the burger joint where Fonzie held court<\/a>, the legendary director gave him a chance. Marshall told him he would have to pick a song and sing it to a bulldog, telling him, \u201cIf you\u2019re good, I get laughs. If you\u2019re bad, I get laughs. You\u2019re going to sing the bulldog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I do it and then the letters start coming in, and he goes \u2018The people like it. The people like it.\u2019 He goes, \u2018We\u2019ll do more. You\u2019re in charge of it though,’\u201d Williams recalled. \u201cThen I got a major agent for that and started getting booked at state fairs for 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy Days\u201d star Anson Williams revealed he picked up singing to counter the \u201c1970s economics.\u201d Still Here Hollywood Podcast w\/ Steve Kmetko<\/p>\n

Anson Williams played Potsie Weber in the hit sitcom \u201cHappy Days.\u201d Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

Williams added that his idea to sing on the show \u201cstarted this whole career\u201d that ended up being better for him monetarily, and was \u201cjust a whole other life experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

After finding success as a musician as well as an actor, Williams said that Marshall approached him to express how proud he was of the actor, telling him, \u201cYou found an opportunity, and you\u2019re helping the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

During an interview with Fox News Digital in March 2024, Williams revealed<\/a> that while the show started as a hit with audiences, landing in the top 15 or 20, it slid down to 48th place at one point and was \u201con the verge of getting canceled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Garry Marshall and Jerry Paris, our director, thought, \u2018What if we changed the whole tone? What if we make it a live audience sitcom?\u2019\u201d Williams recalled. \u201cSo, half the season, one camera. The next season, one camera. The next season \u2014 two and a half in \u2014 they switch it to live audience. And the chemistry of the cast, the writing, was magic. That\u2019s the year we went to No. 1 in the world. That\u2019s when we exploded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams added that his idea to sing on the show \u201cstarted this whole career\u201d that ended up being better for him monetarily, and was \u201cjust a whole other life experience.\u201d Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

Williams revealed that while the show started as a hit with audiences, landing in the top 15 or 20, it slid down to 48th place at one point and was \u201con the verge of getting canceled.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

When the show became a huge success, Williams recalled Marshall advising him and his young co-stars to use their platforms for good, telling them to take the spotlight they found themselves in and \u201cshine it on people that deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his time on \u201cHappy Days,\u201d Williams pivoted <\/a>to working more as a writer and director.<\/p>\n

He directed episodes of \u201cBeverly Hills, 90210,\u201d \u201cSabrina the Teenage Witch,\u201d \u201cLizzie McGuire,\u201d \u201cCharmed,\u201d \u201cThe Secret Life of an American Teenager\u201d and more.<\/p>\n

Through all his successes, Williams never forgot the advice Marshall gave to him during his time on \u201cHappy Days.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cRon Howard and I did a film called \u2018Skyward,\u2019 starring the first paraplegic ever in the history of television,\u201d he said. \u201cWe did films like \u2018No Greater Gift,\u2019 which doubled organ donorship cards. Henry did so many social issue movies of the week and after-school specials, and charities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really, to this day, try to shine the light to make things better,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When playing Potsie Weber on \u201cHappy Days\u201d didn\u2019t pay well enough, actor Anson Williams came up with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1508,91,88,78416,92],"class_list":["post-878558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-actors","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-sitcoms","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}