His Surprise Visit to the Set of ‘Happy Days’ Blew Their Minds

Happy Days cast composite image — Everett Collection

It was sometime during the first season of Happy Days that the cast got a huge surprise, a visit by someone whose mere presence blew their minds. So, who was this Happy Days fan, so rabid that he wanted to come and visit the set and meet the show’s stars? Well, folks, believe it or not, I’m talking about the one and only John Lennon.

This story comes directly from the Fonz himself, Henry Winkler, who back in 2018, told talk show host Jimmy Kimmel about his experience meeting the former Beatle. Apparently, John wasn’t the only fan of Happy Days in the Lennon household. His son, Julian, who was just 10 years old at the time, was an even bigger fan, and John knew a few people who knew a few more people, and he was able to pull some strings and visit the set with his son.

IMAGINE: JOHN LENNON, John Lennon, 1988, photo from recording of 'Imagine' album, 1971

Everett Collection

Henry said the thing that he found so very interesting about the visit was that John wasn’t anything like he expected him to be. He was very quiet and very reserved. However, once Henry started talking to John about his 1971 release, “Imagine,” the singer really opened up and the conversation between the two of them just flowed naturally.

Anson Williams, who played Richie’s best friend, Potsie, on the show also remembered the visit as a sweet moment where a father was able to make his son’s day. Anson said in an interview on Pop Goes the Culture TV that John was “the nicest, most congenial, humblest, shyest man … doing doodles for the crew”.

Sadly, it was just six years later that John was shot and killed outside of his apartment building in New York City. Former bandmate Paul McCartney told Sirius XM radio host Tom Frangione in 2022 that John’s death “was difficult for everyone in the world because he was such a loved character and such a crazy guy. He was so special.”

A handful of years after that, Henry remembers getting a knock on his office door at the Paramount Studio lot, and when it opened, John’s son, Julian, stepped inside. Julian was on the Paramount lot because he was filming an episode of Solid Gold to perform his latest single, but Julian didn’t want to talk about music. Instead, he asked Henry if he remembered that day so long ago when he and his dad visited the set, and Henry, smiling at Julian, told him “of course,” and assured him that it had been an exciting moment for everyone.

During that brief reunion, Henry explained to Julian that it wasn’t just that a music legend, one of the all-time greats, had chosen to visit their set. Instead, he told Julian that it was a day when he got to see a father demonstrate to his son just how much he truly loved him.