Ron Howard revealed in a career-spanning Vulture interview that he was ready to walk away from “Happy Days” if the team behind the beloved ABC sitcom changed its title to “Fonzie’s Happy Days.” Howard led the series as Richie Cunningham, with Henry Winkler as Richie’s fan favorite best friend Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (also called The Fonz). Winkler was the show’s breakout, which had the team behind “Happy Days” considering a title change.
“I never, ever challenged what they were doing creatively. It made perfect sense that you’d build this Fonzie character and maximize that,” Howard said. “But the optics of now being in a show called ‘Fonzie’s Happy Days, my ego wouldn’t allow for that. I wasn’t bluffing. I would’ve left. And my contract, I’m sure, had no clause connected to titles. They could have said, ‘Fuck you. We changed the title, and we expect you to show up Monday morning.’ But thank God for great bosses. Garry Marshall said, ‘If you’re not cool with it …’”
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“I later found out Henry himself thought it was a terrible idea,” Howard continued. “I think the position I took made it easy for both Garry and Henry to also say, ‘No, let’s not do that.’ Years later, Henry said they were ready to do a spinoff and other things for Fonzie and he just said, ‘Why fix it if it’s not broken? My success depends on the ensemble I’m in.’”
Howard headlined “Happy Days” in the lead role for seven seasons. He left the show to pursue a career in directing. Winkler debuted on the sitcom as a recurring guest, but the smooth-talking Fonzie proved so popular with audiences that he was bumped up to a series regular in Season 2 and stayed with the show for the remainder of its 11-season run. Winkler was nominated for three Emmy Awards across his run on “Happy Days.”
At the 2024 Emmys, Howard and Winkler took the stage to reunite in celebration of the “Happy Days” 50th anniversary. On a recreated set of the show’s famed Arnold’s Drive-In, the actors did a comedy bit where they called out the awards show for not playing the legendary “Happy Days” theme song aloud when they walked in. Howard prompted Winkler to take care of that problem, leading Winkler to pull a classic Fonz move. He struck the juke box with his fist, with the juke box immediately starting to play “Happy Days” by Pratt & McClain.
Head over to the Vulture interview to read Howard’s interview in its entirety.
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