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Happy Days<\/em> was one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 1970s and early \u201880s, but a major cast member almost quit the series early on.<\/p>\n In an interview with Vulture<\/em><\/a>, original series star Ron Howard, who played Richie Cunningham on the ABC hit, revealed that he threatened to break his contract in the mid-1970s when producers considered changing the show\u2019s title to Fonzie\u2019s Happy Days<\/em>\u00a0to focus on Henry Winkler\u2019s leather jacket-wearing character.<\/p>\n \u201cI never, ever challenged what they were doing creatively,\u201d Howard said in the August 2025 interview. \u201cIt made perfect sense that you\u2019d build this Fonzie character and maximize that. But the optics of now being in a show called \u2018Fonzie\u2019s Happy Days,\u2019 my ego wouldn\u2019t allow for that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t bluffing,\u201d Howard added. \u201cI would\u2019ve left. And my contract, I\u2019m sure, had no clause connected to titles. They could have said, \u2018F— you. We changed the title, and we expect you to show up Monday morning.\u2019 But thank God for great bosses. [Series creator] Garry Marshall said, \u2018If you\u2019re not cool with it\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Howard noted that he also found out that Winkler thought the potential change \u201cwas a terrible idea.\u201d \u201cI think the position I took made it easy for both Garry and Henry to also say, \u2018No, let\u2019s not do that,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n When Happy Days<\/em> debuted in 1974, it featured a large ensemble cast that included Howard, Winkler, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Erin Moran, Anson Williams, and Donny Most.<\/p>\n The series centered on the Cunningham family, but in Season 3, Fonzie moved into a room above the family\u2019s garage and became a bigger part of the show. The character even headed a two-parter that season, titled \u201cFearless Fonzarelli,\u201d which featured the Fonz attempting to jump his motorcycle over 14 garbage cans.<\/p>\n As Fonzie\u2019s popularity began to grow, producers considered pivoting the series to \u201cFonzie\u2019s Happy Days.\u201d Like Howard, Winkler was not on board with the idea.<\/p>\n In a 2024 interview with The New York Times<\/em><\/a>, Winkler recalled, \u201cThey came to me at ABC and they wanted to change the title to \u2018Fonzie\u2019s Happy Days.\u2019 I said, \u2018If you do that, it is an insult to everybody I\u2019m working with. Why fix something that isn\u2019t broken? We are really good. I live in the family, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m successful. I\u2019m asking you, if you never listen to me again, leave it alone.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In the same interview, Howard added, \u201cI told them if you really want to change the name of the show to that, I would rather go back to USC and film school and what I was doing before the show launched.\u201d<\/p>\n Howard ultimately left Happy Days<\/em> several years before the series ended its 11-season run. In 1980, he signed an “exclusive long-term contract” with NBC, The Times<\/em> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the end of Season 7, Howard\u2019s Richie character was written out Happy Days <\/em>with the story that he joined the United States Army. Howard didn\u2019t appear in Seasons 8, 9, or 10 but made appearances in three episodes during Happy Days<\/em>‘ final season in 1984, per IMDb<\/a>.<\/p>\nHenry Winkler Said the \u2018Happy Days\u2019 Name Change Would Have Been an \u2018Insult\u2019 to His Co-Stars<\/h2>\n