Henry Winkler's Happy Days Popularity Hurt One Of His Co-Stars' Feelings

Henry Winkler was the breakout star of "Happy Days," where he embodied cool as the Fonz, but Ron Howard's Richie Cunningham was supposed to be the show's central character. "Happy Days," which debuted in 1974 and ran for 11 seasons, followed Richie and his friends and family. Winkler's Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli was initially a secondary character, becoming friends with Howard's Richie during the 1st season. It quickly became clear that the leather jacket-clad greaser was proving a bigger hit with audiences than any other character on "Happy Days." In fact, Fonzie's popularity became so pronounced that by the end of the show's 2nd season, the producers were considering renaming it "Fonzie's Happy Days."

Considering Howard's character was set up as the lead of the show, the shift in focus to the Fonz that followed the audience response was a little tough for the actor. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Winkler revealed he once discussed this with Howard: "Ron said to me, 'I have to admit it, it hurts my feelings, and I have to admit you are doing nothing to make anybody feel bad. You're just being good and that's good for the show.' That was the only time we discussed it."

Any hurt feelings did nothing to harm the "Happy Days" co-stars' friendship. Winkler pointed out he had recently appeared on his daughter Zoe's podcast, "What in the Winkler?!" along with Howard and his daughter (actress and director Bryce Dallas Howard, who is Winkler's goddaughter).

The Fonz was never supposed to be as central a part of "Happy Days" as the character became. In fact, in his appearance on a 2019 episode of "Inside the Actors Studio" (via MeTV), Henry Winkler recalled that the Fonz was originally going to feature in only around half the number of episodes he ultimately did. "I was only supposed to be in seven out of the 13 shows each cycle," Winkler said. The Fonz went on to appear in every single episode of "Happy Days" — one of only two characters to do so, the other being Tom Bosley's Howard Cunningham, Richie's father.

Many of the Fonz's defining traits and moments came from Winkler himself. The actor's determination to avoid "cool guy" cliches of the era saw Winkler insisting on rules such as never combing his hair on camera. This led to the iconic moment in the series' pilot in which the Fonz approaches a mirror with a comb only to lower it since he already looks perfect. Winkler also took a couple of the Fonz's catchphrases, "Heeey" and "Whoa," from his favorite sport, horse riding.

After seven seasons of "Happy Days," Howard left the show to pursue a career as a director. This saw Winkler's Fonzie promoted to the series' lead for the final four seasons, his popularity allowing the show to continue without its original protagonist.