Ron Howard Reveals That Producers Had a ‘Terrible idea’ to Change ‘Happy Days’

Jason Brow August 13, 5:43 pm

HAPPY DAYS, Henry Winkler, Ron Howard, television, 1974-1984. — Everett Collection

Though Ron Howard has spent the latter part of his career behind the camera, directing movies like Apollo 13 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, never forget that he started his career as an actor … and actors have egos. Yes, even Howard—best known for portraying the wholesome Opie Taylor of The Andy Griffith Show and the good-hearted Richie Cunningham on Happy Days—had a bit of a chip on his shoulder in his youth.

And that came into play when the Happy Days producers considered renaming the show Fonzie’s Happy Days, to capitalize on the popularity of Henry Winkler‘s character.

“I never, ever challenged what they were doing creatively,” said Howard in a new interview with Vulture. “It made perfect sense that you’d build this Fonzie character and maximize that. But the optics of now being in a show called Fonzie’s Happy Days, my ego wouldn’t allow for that.”

“I wasn’t bluffing. I would’ve left. And my contract, I’m sure, had no clause connected to titles,” Ron explained. “They could have said, ‘F–k you. We changed the title, and we expect you to show up Monday morning.’”

“But thank God for great bosses,” said Howard, who explained that Marshall took the young actor’s protest under consideration. “[Series creator] Garry Marshall said, ‘If you’re not cool with it…’”

“I later found out Henry himself thought it was a terrible idea,” said Howard. “I think the position I took made it easy for both Garry and Henry to also say, ‘No, let’s not do that.’”

Howard also suggested that shifting the focus from the cast to just The Fonz might have put some unwanted pressure on Winkler.

“Years later, Henry said they were ready to do a spinoff and other things for Fonzie,” said Howard, “and he just said, ‘Why fix it if it’s not broken? My success depends on the ensemble I’m in.’”

Happy Days ran for 11 seasons, airing from 1974 to 1984. Though Fonzie never got a show of his own (unless you count The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang cartoon), it did spawn a few spinoffs, including Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi.