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Henry Winkler Reflects on Turning Down John Travolta’s Role in Grease Due to Fears of Being ‘Typecast’ .Linh

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The ‘Happy Days’ icon also admitted that he’s not much of a singer anyway

John Travolta, Grease (1978) and HAPPY DAYS - 1978, Henry Winkler.
Henry Winkler in ‘Happy Days’ in 1978 and John Travolta in ‘Grease’ in 1978. Photo: ABC Photo Archives Getty; PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive/Alamy

The prospect of playing Danny Zuko in the 1978 film adaptation of Grease wasn’t exactly electrifying to Henry Winkler.

On the most recent episode of Kelly Ripa’s podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera, the Happy Days star, 78, explained why he turned down the role that ultimately went to John Travolta, earning him a 1979 Golden Globe Award nomination.

“In my pathetic mind, I thought to myself, ‘I have now been the Fonz for 10 years,’ ” Winkler recalled, referencing his greaser Happy Days character. ” ‘I’m now gonna play him again in the movies? I’m gonna be so typecast. I will never get work again.’ “

HAPPY DAYS - "Motorcycle" - Season Three - 7/30/75 Henry Winkler

“A leather coat will be in your wardrobe for the rest of your life,” Ripa chimed in.

“So what happened?” Winkler continued. “I go home. I relax. I have a V8. John Travolta goes home and buys a plane.”

Despite missing out on starring in a blockbuster musical that further burnished Travolta’s status as a Hollywood leading man, Winkler admitted that he wasn’t the strongest singer — presumably a prerequisite for a role in Grease.

“I am not a singer,” he said. “Here is my dream: that I could sing like Lewis Capaldi, like Bruno, like, the Boss, like Brandi Carlile. I dream to sing and take the audience on a journey. I sing and I watch the audience get up and run for the exit.”

To illustrate his point, Winkler pointed to the time he joined singer Neil Diamond onstage in the late ’70s.

1977: Singer Neil Diamond wearing a sequin shirt gets joined onstage by "the Fonz" aka Henry Winkler in circa 1977 in Los Angeles, California.

“I love Neil Diamond,” he said. “At that time, nobody admitted to having Neil Diamond records except that he sold billions. So, somebody had to have them besides me!”

“I’m sitting in the audience,” Winkler continued, “And he said, ‘Hey. We got a surprise for you. Come on up, Henry Winkler.’ And I think, ‘Thank God I bought this new sweater.’ ”

Winkler recalled Diamond inviting him onstage to perform a duet of his 1972 hit, “Song Sung Blue.”

“I actually [could not] remember the words,” Winkler admitted. The Barry Emmy winner said he ended up just repeating the lyrics Diamond sang.

“Did you get dizzy in the head?” Ripa asked.

“What I did was I immediately bought incense,” Winkler joked. “And I have built a small altar, which I pray to every day that it never happens again.”