Details

Release year: 1974

Storyline

In Milwaukee Wisconsin, hardware store owner Howard Cunningham, his wife Marion, and their children Richard and Joanie live through the 1950s with help and guidance from lovable and almost superhuman greaser Fonzie.

Top credits

Cast

Ron Howard — Richie Cunningham, Asst. DA Cecil Cunningham
Henry Winkler — Arthur 'Fonzie' Fonzarelli, Composer Peter Tchaikovsky, Dougie, Spats
Marion Ross — Marion Cunningham, Eddie's Wife, Lucretia
Tom Bosley — Howard Cunningham, Boris, Eddie

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Awards

1 win & 8 nominations

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Did you know

• By the time of "Happy Days," a cliché was for greasers and hoodlums constantly to be combing their hair. Henry Winkler argued against doing this, saying it would make the Fonz look like an ordinary hoodlum. On the spur of the moment, Winkler made up the gag where the Fonz goes to comb his hair, looks in the mirror, and shrugs as if to say, "Ayyy, my hair's perfect. I don't need to comb it!" The gag got a big laugh from the studio audience and became a Fonzie trademark. Later in the series, Fonzie shows Richie his comb and says, "Do you know I have had this comb for nine years, and it has never once touched my hair." They repeated the Fonzie doesn't comb his hair gag in another clip, which was shown in the montage for the show's opening.

• Although Fonzie loved motorcycles, Henry Winkler was terrified of them. Most of the scenes of Fonzie riding the motorcycle were shot with the bike attached to a platform, and being pulled by a truck.

• At the height of the show's popularity, a call came through to "Paramount Studios," from a teenage boy who was contemplating suicide and "wanted to talk to Fonzie." Henry Winkler took the call, and gave the boy a pep-talk about life, convincing him to give it another chance.