Henry Winkler turned down a role that John Travolta is now famously known for.
Although boasting an extensive acting portfolio including series like Law and Order Special Victims Unit, the 80-year-old actor’s most iconic role was undeniably Fonzie in Happy Days.
Looking back at his breakout role, he said, ”Happy Days gave me happy times and beautiful lifelong friendships.”
He recalled to The Mirror, “I auditioned for The Fonz twice. I had to get my unibrow plucked, which I remember was very painful. They wanted a big Italian – and they got a short Jew.”
Starting with only a handful of lines in the debut episode, he proved to be so popular that he became the lead. Executives even considered giving him his own spin-off series or retitling the program Happy Days With The Fonz. Winkler was content with the existing arrangement, however, it made him miss out on one of the biggest movies of the 1970s.
Following his triumph as the legendary Fonzie, Winkler found himself trapped by typecasting and transitioned into producing.
“The 1990s were a lull for me,” he admits. However, his luck shifted in 1998 when he starred in Waterboy alongside Adam Sandler, launching a fruitful partnership and friendship that spanned multiple films.
“Adam’s my relative now,” he quips.
He is currently collaborating with Line of Duty mastermind Jed Mercurio, revealing, “He presented me with this idea of a show that’s not a cop show. It’s all I can say!”
While his career shows no signs of slowing, he acknowledges certain indicators of getting older.
Winkler admits, “My knees are very clear on what it means to walk downstairs.”
He has also opened up about managing a lifelong struggle – dyslexia.
He explains, “I fought through dyslexia – you don’t lose it but you learn to negotiate it. Every young person has a lot of power and you need to channel that in a very positive way, to get where it is you’ve dreamt of being. I am still living the dream I had when I was eight growing up in New York. I never think about being 80. I just think ‘I am having a most wonderful time’.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
