Henry Winkler recalled not being able to get hired following his role as “The Fonz” on the wildly popular sitcom Happy Days.
The actor played Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli—know as “The Fonz” or “Fonzie”—a cool greaser, who was often seen with his motorcycle and leather jacket. He appeared on the show for all 11 seasons, from its first episode in 1974 to the series’ end in 1984.
During an appearance on the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast, the 78-year-old said it was “hard work” trying to distance himself from the character.
“You did one of the most Houdini-esque escapes that you can do in showbusiness, which is get out of massive fame in a type castable role,” host Bill Maher said. “That’s a Houdini-esque move.”
“That was hard work,” Winkler said in response. “That was, oh, sometimes painful. I was not hirable. People said, ‘Oh, he’s so funny, he’s so great, but he was The Fonz,’ and I could not get hired.”
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As a result, the Golden Globe Award winner said he “started writing children’s books.”
Winkler was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 31, and a friend suggested he write books about his dyslexia for kids.
“I said, ‘I can’t do that because I’m dyslexic,'” he recounted.
In 2003, the Emmy Award winner began working with writer Lin Oliver, and the duo have since written 40 children’s books together.
“I have learned everything I know about writing from Lin,” Winkler said in an interview with Forbes in February 2023. At the time, they were releasing their 38th book. “I can’t spell nor type very well, but I can talk. And Lin is a talker and a typer. I have an idea. Then Lin has an idea. Then Lin types away, reads it back to me and we argue over every word.”
The New York native went on to have other successful roles in Hollywood, despite his initial setbacks. From 2003 to 2019, Winkler played Barry Zuckerkorn on Arrested Development, and from 2018 to 2023, he starred as Gene Cousineau in Barry. He also appeared in The Waterboy and Click alongside Adam Sandler, voiced Fritz in Monsters at Work and much more.
“There are just not that many people who the American audience has said, you know, like, ‘Okay, we saw him [as] Fonzie, but now we want to see him again. And then there’s, you know, Arrested Development, but we still want to see him. And then Barry.’ They just want to follow you as they watch you age and, you know, grow into some completely different person.”
“I am very grateful,” Winkler told Maher on the podcast. “I do not take that for granted. I’m knocking on wood right now.”
Newsweek reached out to Winkler’s team via email for additional comment.