“I would do nothing Fonzie off of the show. I was Henry, and that was my character,” the “Happy Days” star said.
There was a time, Henry Winkler admits, that he was sensitive about people calling him “Fonzie” in real life — even scolding child for doing so.
The Happy Days icon made a name for himself playing the fan-favorite character Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli for 11 seasons on the sitcom in the ’70s and ’80s. But the actor, 78, was so “panicked” about being typecast in that role that he reprimanded his future wife Stacey Weitzman’s son Jed, who was only 4 at the time — and a huge fan of Fonzie.
Winkler and Stacey told the hilarious story, beginning with how much Jed loved Fonzie when they were just beginning to date, on Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson’s Sibling Rivalry podcast.
Henry Winkler. Amanda Edwards/Getty Images Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
“My oldest son, Jed, loved him like a lunatic and had Henry and the Six Million Dollar Man on his 4th birthday cake that June, and this was in August,” Stacey said. “It was cute.”
So when the time came to introduce Jed and Winkler, the young boy knew exactly who he was meeting.
“My parents were out of the country, and we were staying at their house, like house sitting, and Henry came to pick me up, like a date would come to pick up,” Stacey said. “We went to the movies, and maybe it was because I said to him, ‘Guess who I’m going out with?’ and it was his birthday cake person, he opened the front door and said, ‘Fonzie!’ And Henry — who was, at the time, extremely serious — [said] ‘What did you say, honey?'”
The Emmy-winning Barry actor then explained, “I was panicked at the time about being typecast, so I would do nothing Fonzie off of the show. I was Henry, and that was my character. [Jed] opened the door, I looked down at this little guy [who said], ‘Fonzie!’ I said, ‘My name is Henry. Would you like it if I called you ‘Ralph’?'”
Stacey laughed as she joked, “And then, of course, he went into therapy.”
“Swear to God,” Henry added.
Henry Winkler as Fonzie on ‘Happy Days’. Photo: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
The couple married a few years later in 1978 and went on to have two children together, Max and Zoe, in addition to Jed (who was Stacey’s son from her previous marriage to Howard Weitzman).
Winkler recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of Happy Days at the 2024 Emmys along with his costar Ron Howard in a recreation of the Arnold’s Drive-In set (see video above). The pair presented the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, which went to Christopher Storer, for The Bear.
“This is fantastic” Howard began, appreciating the meticulous details of the Happy Days set around them, complete with a live actor dressed in a ’50s outfit sitting in a booth perusing the menu. Howard then urged Winkler to channel the Fonz and bang on the jukebox behind them both. “First of all, I’m out of practice,” Winkler said. “Second of all, it takes rehearsing.”
“You went to the Yale School of Drama, Henry!” Howard reminded him. “Come on, you know you could do it.” Winkler immediately sashayed his hips, channeled his Happy Days greaser, and got the iconic theme song running on the jukebox before signing off with a Fonz-arrific, “Nice to see ‘ya.”
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