Henry Winkler has admitted he was "dumb" to turn down the role of Danny Zuko in the 1978 movie "Grease," which was ultimately played by John Travolta.
The actor built his career on the role of Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli in "Happy Days" but throughout the show's 10-year run, and in the subsequent years, he feared being typecast and so ultimately turned down the role in the hit musical.
"I was dumb,” Winkler, 77, told People while discussing his new memoir, "Being Henry: The Fonz ... and Beyond." "I spent so much energy, so much time — I spent so many sleepless nights thinking, how do I not get typecast?”
Responding to a question about what he'd suggest to actors in similar predicaments, Winkler said: "You go with the flow. What you do is you prepare to reinvent yourself. You do something completely different and then come back to center."
After "Happy Days" ended in 1984, Winkler faced challenges in securing any significant roles, and shifted his focus to producing. It wasn't until later that he found supporting roles in movies like "Scream" and Adam Sandler's "The Waterboy."
Then Winkler landed the role of the comically incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in "Arrested Development," which allowed him the opportunity to showcase the improv skills he learned at Yale School of Drama. This was followed by his Emmy-winning performance in HBO's "Barry," in which he portrayed the insufferable acting coach Gene Cousineau alongside Bill Hader.
"I spent most of my adult life being frightened, on the outside looking like I had it together and mostly being anxious. The biggest lesson, I really now believe today, in 2023 looking back, is not only must you be tenacious, not only must you be grateful, but you also have to be flexible," Winkler said.
"You have to take a leap of faith. You have to jump off the precipice and just trust you're going to fly, because there were so many years I was not hired as an actor," he continued. "I have a family. I have a house. What am I going to do? And then somebody suggested I become a producer. I start off saying, 'I can't do it. I'm dyslexic. I have no idea what the business is. I can't do it.' And then finally you say, 'Oh, just shut up and try.'"
With that in mind, the actor, who reveals his private struggle with dyslexia in his new memoir, said that is exactly what he does.
"So I think 'shut up and try' might be the most important lesson that I could pass on to somebody," he said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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