What To Know
- Henry Winkler revealed that after Happy Days ended, he struggled with being typecast as Fonzie.
- He pivoted to producing and directing, which he described as a vital life lesson about adapting to change.
- Winkler ultimately found renewed success by producing the original MacGyver series, directing films and writing.
Henry Winkler recently made a “dark” confession about the toll the ending of Happy Days took on him.
During the June 17 episode of Ted Danson‘s Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, Winkler, 80, opened up about the iconic sitcom in which he played Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli.”
“After Happy Days finished. I’m sitting in my office,” he recalled. “All I’m getting are Fonzi-like [offers]. I have no idea, ‘Am I ever going to do anything that is as powerful?’”
Winkler then admitted, “And I went dark. I went dark.” He continued, “I thought, ‘I have no idea what I’m going to do, whether I could do it again, and I’m over.”
For about “eight years or nine years,” Winkler said his acting career ground to a halt — and that’s when he started to produce and direct.
“This is a life lesson I learned that is vital in everybody’s life who is listening, and I’ll be that bold: The greatest thing you learn is to pivot,” he advised.
Winkler added, “You’re going on a way, and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, I got to stay, I got to do. I can’t do anything else. Nah, I don’t want to do anything else.’ You have to learn to pivot, and when you pivot, the universe opens up. And all of this generous stardust falls on you.”
Ultimately, Winkler found success in producing the original MacGyver series. He went on to direct the films Memories of Me (1988) and Cop and a Half (1993). He also wrote three memoirs and the children’s book series, Hank Zipzer.
Happy Days aired for 11 seasons from 1974 to 1984. In addition to Winkler, the sitcom starred Ron Howard, Scott Baio, Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Erin Moran, Anson Williams, Don Most, and Al Molinaro, among others.
Happy Days, streaming on Pluto TV and Paramount+
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