Ron Howard has achieved quite a bit in his career, but his seven-season stint on “Happy Days” is a significant part of American television history. Of course, Howard ultimately left the show before it ended, but he almost departed it even sooner. The beloved actor turned director recently opened up about why.Â
He had an extensive conversation with Vulture in August 2025. During it, Howard discussed how there was a desire to call “Happy Days” “Fonzie’s Happy Days.” This was early on in the show’s run, and it almost led to him leaving.Â
Howard said, “I never, ever challenged what they were doing creatively. It made perfect sense that youâd build this Fonzie character and maximize that. But the optics of now being in a show called Fonzieâs Happy Days, my ego wouldnât allow for that. I wasnât bluffing. I wouldâve left.”
The “Apollo 13” director continued, “And my contract, Iâm sure, had no clause connected to titles. They could have said, ‘We changed the title, and we expect you to show up Monday morning.’ But thank God for great bosses. Garry Marshall said, ‘If youâre not cool with it ⦒ I later found out Henry himself thought it was a terrible idea.
Howard went on, “I think the position I took made it easy for both Garry and Henry to also say, ‘No, letâs not do that.’ Years later, Henry said they were ready to do a spinoff and other things for Fonzie, and he just said, ‘Why fix it if itâs not broken? My success depends on the ensemble Iâm in.’”
Howard Discussed His Most Personal Movie Following ‘Happy Days’ Success
Howard represents the few child stars who were able to go on to have widely successful careers. Specifically, he made the transition to becoming one of the most prolific and well-known directors. Howard also opened up in the Vulture conversation about his most personal film.
He told the outlet, “Parenthood was just overtly personal. My kids were young. With Ganz and Mandel and Brian, I think there were 15 kids between all of us, and everybody contributed stories that were personal to them.”
Howard continued, “I get so many screenwriters who come up and want to talk to me about Parenthood. Frost/Nixon screenwriter Peter Morgan once said to me, âItâs American Chekhov.â I mean, this is not somebody who throws compliments around.”
He added, “I passed that along to Ganz and Mandel right away. There were aspects of Hillbilly Elegy that were personal because I wanted to do something about the heartland that wasnât a bank-robbing story or about farming.”
His ‘Eden’ Film Hits Theaters in August
Howard remains one of the most active directors in Hollywood. His upcoming film, “Eden,” will hit theaters on August 22. It stars the likes of Jude Law, Sydney Sweeney, and Ana de Armas. The film is about a group of settlers enduring some of the harsh conditions of the Galápagos Islands.
Regarding why he decided to make “Eden,” Howard told Deadline, “I encountered this story about 15 years ago, on a family trip to the Galapagos. Itâs a place Iâd always wanted to go, since first seeing pictures of the wildlife, the iguanas and the unusual birds, while flipping through a National Geographic magazine at age eight or nine.”
He added, ” I always wanted to go, and finally did. It exceeded all my expectations. There, I encountered this story. It was so fascinating to me that I just began reading whatever I could about the three units of people who chose to try to go off the grid and reinvent their lives at a time when the world was going through tremendous turmoil.”
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