Ron Howard Reveals He Threatened to Leave ‘Happy Days’ Over ‘Terrible Idea’ Producers Had

Ron Howard nearly exited Happy Days over a major creative clash with the producers.

The Oscar-winning director, who played Richie Cunningham on the iconic sitcom for nearly a decade, revealed in a new interview with Vulture that he threatened to quit the show when producers considered renaming it Fonzie’s Happy Days in order to cash in on the popularity of Henry Winkler‘s character.

“I never, ever challenged what they were doing creatively,” Howard explained. “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. I would’ve left. And my contract, I’m sure, had no clause connected to titles,” he continued. “They could have said, ‘F–k you. We changed the title, and we expect you to show up Monday morning.’”

“But thank God for great bosses,” Howard added, revealing that series creator Garry Marshall took his protest seriously. “Garry Marshall said, ‘If you’re not cool with it…’”

Luckily, Winkler also hated the idea of a name change. “I later found out Henry himself thought it was a terrible idea,” said Howard. “I think the position I took made it easy for both Garry and Henry to also say, ‘No, let’s not do that.’”

Howard also pointed out that putting extra emphasis on The Fonz may have added more pressure on Winkler than the actor had wanted at that point in his career.

“Years later, Henry said they were ready to do a spinoff and other things for Fonzie,” said Howard, “and he just said, ‘Why fix it if it’s not broken? My success depends on the ensemble I’m in.’”

Happy Days ultimately ran for 11 seasons from 1974 to 1984. Howard exited the show after its eighth season to pursue directing, but returned for guest appearances throughout Season 11. Happy Days might not have given Winkler his own show throughout the show’s run, but it did spawn the iconic spinoffs Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi.