Why Henry Winkler Was Crushed When Ron Howard Left ‘Happy Days’
While there was one point when Henry Winkler and Ron Howard may have been thrilled if the other one quit, by the time Howard decided to leave Happy Days for other opportunities, his costar Winkler was devastated. While their characters may have seemed like opposites, the characters balanced each other out and they formed a true friendship off the set as well.
Winkler said, according to MeTV, “When we worked together, there was something that happens out of the blue. We had a shorthand with the script. He went where I went, I went where he went, and it became something else.”
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When Howard decided to leave the show after its seventh season, Winkler admitted, “My first thought was, ‘I’m going to die now.’ My great acting partner on this show, my good friend is no longer going to be here. My life is over. And that was the first two seconds. Then I said, ‘Ron, we’ve talked about this since the beginning. All you want to do is be a director. It’s in your DNA. Go and be the best you can be, and I cannot wait to see what you do.'”
The show went on, focusing more on Fonzie and the other characters until ending after the 11th season with a total of 255 half-hour episodes. Of course, Howard went on to find success as an actor and a director, directing iconic films such as A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13.
If you remember watching the show when it was on, what did you think when Howard left the show? Tell us, who is your favorite Happy Days character? Then see if you can ace Richie trivia below.
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