Happy Days was one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 1970s and early ‘80s, but a major cast member almost quit the series early on.
In an interview with Vulture, 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’s title to “Fonzie’s Happy Days” to focus on Henry Winkler’s leather jacket-wearing character.
“I never, ever challenged what they were doing creatively,” Howard said in the Aug. 2025 interview. “It made perfect sense that you’d build this Fonzie character and maximize that. But the optics of now being in a show called ‘Fonzie’s Happy Days,’ my ego wouldn’t allow for that.”
“I wasn’t bluffing,” Howard added. “I would’ve left. And my contract, I’m sure, had no clause connected to titles. They could have said, ‘F— you. We changed the title, and we expect you to show up Monday morning.’ But thank God for great bosses. [Series creator] Garry Marshall said, ‘If you’re not cool with it…’”
Howard noted that he also found out that Winkler thought the potential change “was a terrible idea.” “I think the position I took made it easy for both Garry and Henry to also say, ‘No, let’s not do that,’” he said.
Henry Winkler Said the ‘Happy Days’ Name Change Would Have Been an ‘Insult’ to His Co-Stars
When Happy Days debuted in 1974, it featured a large ensemble cast that included Howard, Winkler, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Erin Moran, Anson Williams, and Donny Most.
The series centered on the Cunningham family, but in Season 3, Fonzie moved into a room above the family’s garage and became a bigger part of the show. The character even headed a two-parter that season, titled “Fearless Fonzarelli,” which featured the Fonz attempting to jump his motorcycle over 14 garbage cans.
As Fonzie’s popularity began to grow, producers considered pivoting the series to “Fonzie’s Happy Days.” Like Howard, Winkler was not on board with the idea.
In a 2024 interview with The New York Times, Winkler recalled, “They came to me at ABC and they wanted to change the title to ‘Fonzie’s Happy Days.’ I said, ‘If you do that, it is an insult to everybody I’m working with. Why fix something that isn’t broken? We are really good. I live in the family, and that’s why I’m successful. I’m asking you, if you never listen to me again, leave it alone.’”
In the same interview, Howard added, “I 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.”
Howard ultimately left Happy Days several years before the series ended its 11-season run. In 1980, he signed an “exclusive long-term contract” with NBC, The Times reported.
At the end of Season 7, Howard’s Richie character was written out Happy Days with the story that he joined the United States Army. Howard didn’t appear in Seasons 8, 9, or 10 but made appearances in three episodes during Happy Days‘ final season in 1984, per IMDb.
