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Henry Winkler Opens Up About The “Humiliating” And “Shameful” Experience Of Battling Dyslexia While Reading Lines For ‘Happy Days’: "I Was So F**king Angry"
Henry Winkler‘s epic month of tea-spilling continues. Just a few days after he threw shade at Tom Hanks, the Barry star sat down with Alec Baldwin on Inside the Actors Studio, where he dished on his Happy Days co-star Ron Howard. Winkler said that he was surprised when fans fell in love with his character, The Fonz, particularly as Howard was the show’s “intended star.” The veteran actor went on to say that they eventually addressed the situation head-on, with Howard allegedly telling Winkler, “My feelings were hurt, but it’s good for the show.”
During their wide-ranging interview, Baldwin asked Winkler about his relationship with Howard, who arrived on the Happy Days set fresh off The Andy Griffith Show. “There’s an intended star of the show, and that person doesn’t always end up remaining the star of the show,” said Baldwin. “This was a show that was really built around Ronnie.” Happy Days was meant to center on Howard’s Richie Cunningham, a teenager with an idyllic midwestern life, but Winkler’s Arthur Fonzarelli quickly became a fan-favorite character.
“I was supposed to be seven out of 13, which meant I was only supposed to be in seven out of the 13 shows each cycle,” said Winkler on Inside the Actors Studio. “[But] The Fonz has taken off.” After a few years, he and Howard finally discussed the shift in dynamic. “The fourth year, we went to a dude ranch and did a two-parter, riding wild bulls. I had to sit on a bull,” recalled Winkler. “Ron Howard drove me home in his VW, and I said, ‘Ron, tell me now. How are you feeling? We haven’t talked about this.'”
“He said, ‘You didn’t do one thing other than be good at what you’re doing,'” said Winkler. “‘You never do anything on the set where you try to be the star. And it’s good for the show. My feelings were hurt, but it’s good for the show.'”
Despite Howard’s hurt feelings, Winkler says they never had a tense relationship on set. “He was one of my most wonderful acting partners ever,” said The Fonz. “We could do a scene — we could read it, rehearse it, memorize it, and shoot it three times in 20 minutes. There was a thread between us that was amazing.”
Watch Henry Winkler’s interview on Inside the Actors Studio on Ovation. New episodes air every Sunday at 10/9c.
