By Mallory Mattingly
Henry Winkler just gave fans some insight into his iconic HAPPY DAYS character the Fonz (aka Arthur Fonzarelli), from his iconic catch phrases to why he never asked for anything — except for one change — during his time on the show.
“In the first year [or] the second year, there’s a scene at the dinner table and they asked me to say grace,” Winkler said on the “Media Path” podcast. “And the show was being run by a man named Bill, who was very religious.”
“I understood from the Fonz’s point of view of talking to God. And so I said I grace. I went ‘Hey, God? Whoa,'” the actor recalled. “In that ‘whoa,’ I said ‘thank you’ and ‘I’m grateful’ and I argued — I had to literally stop the filming for a minute and argue my case, because he wanted me to say a paragraph…and I thought it all went into ‘Hey, God? Whoa.'”
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@louisepalanker Henry Winkler shares his Fonzie origins story on Media Path Podcast. #henrywinkler #fonzie #thefonz #happydays #70s #70stv #longervideos
“Set in 1950s and 1960s Milwaukee, this series tells the story of the Cunningham family — father Howard, mother Marion, son Richie and daughter Joanie. Howard owns a hardware store, while Marion stays at home. Richie’s best friends are Potsie and Ralph. Arthur ‘Fonzie’ Fonzarelli is the local bad boy, riding a motorcycle and filling his days with fixing cars and dating girls. During the show’s run, Richie leaves home to join the U.S. Army,” a synopsis of HAPPY DAYS reads. It ran from 1974–1984.
In another interview, Winkler spoke about how he created many of his characters’ catch phrases, which came from his favorite sport.
“Everyone who’s ever played a Fonz-like cool character has always done the same things: combed their hair, stuck cigarette packets up the sleeve of their T-shirt. I swore I wouldn’t do any of that,” he told The Guardian. “Then, in the pilot, I had to look in a mirror. I told the director: ‘I can’t comb my hair, I made a deal with myself.’ He replied: ‘It’s written. You have to.’ So I walked up, held up my comb, then went: ‘Heeeey…that’s perfect, I don’t need to comb.’ That moment defined the Fonz. I got the ‘Heeeey’ and the ‘Whoaaa’ from my favorite sport at the time: horse-riding.”
Winkler also revealed that ABC almost got rid of the Fonz’s leather jacket.
“The network, ABC, thought I’d be associated with crime if I wore a leather jacket,” he explained. “At first, they had me put on a flimsy-collared golf jacket. It was unbelievably hard to be cool in puce. Garry Marshall, the show’s creator, struck a deal with ABC letting me wear leather.”
Winkler’s commitment to the Fonz certainly made him a TV icon.
Read Next: HAPPY DAYS’ Henry Winkler Talks Career Highs, Lows: ‘Stay At The Table’
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