Henry Winkler on turning down 'Grease' role: 'I was dumb'

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Henry Winkler reflects on turning into 'Fonzie' for ‘Happy Days’ audition

Henry Winkler reflects on his "Happy Days" audition after his big win at the 2023 Critics Choice Awards. When it comes to his ‘Fonzie’ voice, Winkler reveals, ‘I don’t know where it came from.’

Henry Winkler says fears of being typecast prompted him to turn down the lead role in 1978’s "Grease." 

"I was dumb," Winkler told People magazine in this week’s issue. "I spent so much energy, so much time … I spent so many sleepless nights thinking, ‘How do I not get typecast?’" 

The 77-year-old was at the height of his "Happy Days" fame, playing leather jacket-wearing "Fonzie," when he was offered the part, and he worried that the role of Danny Zuko, which went to John Travolta, would pigeonhole him. 

The 1978 musical was one of Travolta’s first leading film roles after his turn as Tony Manero in "Saturday Night Fever." 

‘HAPPY DAYS’ STAR HENRY WINKLER LOOKS BACK ON 50-YEAR CAREER, REVEALS HOW FONZ'S ICONIC CATCHPHRASE CAME TO BE

Henry Winkler says he turned down the lead role in "Grease" because he was afraid of being typecast.  (Leon Bennett/WireImage/Paramount Pictures/Fotos  International)

"You go with the flow," Winkler advised. "What you do is you prepare to reinvent yourself. You do something completely different and then come back to center."

After "Happy Days" ended its 11-season run in 1984, Winkler, like many other performers, struggled to launch the second act of his career.

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"There were eight or nine years at a time when I couldn't get hired because I was 'The Fonz', because I was typecast," he told Today.com earlier this year. 

"I had psychic pain that was debilitating because I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where to find it, whatever it was. I didn't know what I was going to do. I had a family. I had a dog. I had a roof. Oh. My. God."

Henry Winkler, second from left, with castmates Donny Most, Anson Williams and Ron Howard. He was on "Happy Days" 11 seasons.  (Getty Images)

He eventually created his own production company out of "will and fear." 

Winkler told People he has spent most of his life being anxious, but he believes the biggest lesson he’s learned looking back is "not only must you be tenacious, not only must you be grateful, but you also have to be flexible." 

Adding to his anxiety as a young actor was his undiagnosed dyslexia. 

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"Even in the midst of ‘Happy Days,’ at the height of my fame and success, I felt embarrassed, inadequate," he wrote in an excerpt of his new memoir "Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond," according to People. 

"Every Monday at 10 o’clock, we would have a table reading of that week’s script, and at every reading I would lose my place or stumble. I would leave a word out, a line out. I was constantly failing to give the right cue line, which would then screw up the joke for the person doing the scene with me. Or I would be staring at a word like ‘invincible' and have no idea on earth how to pronounce it or even sound it out."

He was eventually diagnosed at 31 

"The Fonz" and Danny Zuko. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content I Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis)

He told People his dyslexia led him to question his ability to form his production company. 

"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,’" he said, "And then finally you say, 'Oh, just shut up and try.'"

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Winkler found roles in movies like "Scream," "The Waterboy" and "Click." Adam Sandler cast him in five of his comedies, and Winkler landed a recurring role in the short-lived but critically acclaimed series "Arrested Development," which was executive produced by his former "Happy Days" co-star Ron Howard. 

He had an eight-episode arch on Amy Poehler’s "Parks & Rec" and had a recurring role on "Royal Pains." 

In 2018, he was cast opposite Bill Hader as acting coach Gene Cousineau in the dark comedy series "Barry" and earned his first primetime Emmy of his career that year. He was first nominated for "Happy Days" but never won. 

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"If you stay at the table long enough, the chips come to you," Winkler said in his acceptance speech. "Tonight I got to clear the table."