Henry Winkler Reveals His Real Reaction When Ron Howard Told Him He Was Leaving ‘Happy Days’

The Fonz without Richie Cunningham? When actor Ron Howard left Happy Days to pursue a career as a director, the cast felt the loss — especially Henry Winkler.

If you’ve ever wondered what happened on set when ‘Richie’ made the decision to exit the sitcom, his former co-star is clearing the air.

Winkler recently revealed how he found out Howard was leaving the legendary 1970s series, telling PEOPLE, “There was a phone booth right by the front door of stage 19. They said, ‘Oh, the phone is for you, Henry.'”

The phone call was from Howard. And yes, that was when he broke the news to his long-time friend.

Winkler continued, sharing the emotional way he reacted to the call, “My first thought was, ‘I’m going to die now.'” The ‘Fonz’ added, “My great acting partner on this show, my good friend is no longer going to be here. My life is over. And that was in the first two seconds”

The actor explained, “Then I said, ‘Ron, we’ve talked about this since the beginning. All you want to do is be a director. It’s in your DNA. Go and be the best you can be, and I cannot wait to see what you do.'”

Howard appeared on Happy Days for seven seasons, from 1974 until 1980. Even though he eventually moved from in front of the camera to behind it, Richie Cunningham did make a few guest appearances on the show before its 1984 finale. Unlike his co-star, Winkler’s Happy Days career spanned the sitcom’s entire 11-season lifetime.

While Howard went off to direct big-screen hits such as Night Shift (which starred Winkler), Splash, Cocoon, Gung Ho, Backdraft, Apollo 13, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, and more, Winkler wasn’t sure what he would do as his time playing the ultra-cool biker Arthur Fonzarelli came to a close.

In June, Winkler told Ted Danson, while appearing on the ‘Team Coco‘ podcast, “After Happy Days finished, I’m sitting in my office…I have no idea am I ever going to do anything that is as powerful. And I went dark. I thought I have no idea what I’m going to do, whether I could do it again. And I’m over.”

Of course, Winkler quickly figured out his next steps. In addition to appearing in Night Shift, he went on to star in Scream, The Waterboy, Arrested Development, Royal Pains, and HBO’s Barry. The actor won his first Emmy Award in 2018 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Barry.

As to whether Winkler would work with his former Happy Days co-star, he shared that he’s definitely on board with the idea!