Henry Winkler opened up about auditioning for Happy Days more than 50 years ago. The actor, who played Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli for 11 seasons on the ABCsitcom, told the IMO With Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson podcast that he showed up for what would be his second-ever acting audition with a bit of a chip on his shoulder after attending the Yale School of Drama.
“I said, well, you know, I can't go, and I can't be in a series because I was trained for the theater,” Winkler revealed to podcast hosts Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson in December 2025. “And [talent agent] Joan Scott said, ‘Wouldn't you just go?’”
“I drive to Paramount in my rented Capri,” Winkler, 80, shared. “It's green because I love green. It's like a little sports car. I walk in the room. Everybody is famous. I've seen them all on TV. My heart sunk. Now it's my turn. I go in. My hair is down to my shoulders. I have a sweat stain that looks like the Hudson River is under my arm. And I see the man, Pascal. He's going to read with me. He's going to read the other role. I only have six lines. And I don't know where it came from… I looked at Pascal and I said, ‘Hey, don't look at me like that.’ I changed my voice. I'm looking at him. I'm a scared short Jew. I'm playing a tall Italian. I threw the script up in the air. I walked out of the room.”
Winkler revealed that on his 28thbirthday, October 30th, 1973, he received a call from producer Tom Miller.
“And he said, Would you like to be part of the show?” Winkler recalled. “I said, ‘If you let me show the emotional side to this guy when he takes off his jacket. Who does he have to be cool for?’ They said yes. I said yes. The Fonz was born.”
Winkler also revealed that he was “nothing like the Fonz” but agreed with producer Garry Marshall that the Fonzie character should wear a black leather jacket instead of the khaki jacket he wore in Happy Days' first season. “It's very hard to be cool in cloth,” Winkler joked.
Winkler previously told Woman’s World that his Happy Days audition was a whirlwind after he landed in California from New York on September 18, 1973.
“When I changed my voice in the audition, I didn’t know where that came from,” the actor admitted. “I said, ‘Hi, I’m Henry.’ I’m scared. I have a sweat stain. I had hair down to my shoulders. And then when I was reading, the voice came out, and it unleashed my imagination.”
On Aug. 18, 2025, Winkler was inducted into the 27th Television Academy Hall of Fame. During his speech to the Academy, he revealed that he auditioned for Happy Days just two weeks after moving to Los Angeles.
When he was told to comb his hair during his audition scene, Winkler went over to the mirror, pulled a comb out of his pocket, and then stopped. “Hey, I don’t have to because it’s perfect,” the Happy Days actor recalled saying. “And that one line took me for 50 years.”
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