Happy Days‘ Henry Winkler has said he called Paul McCartney dozens of times after the Beatle gave him his number, but the musician never answered.
The actor, 78, said he once bumped into the music legend in New York and that Macca ended up giving him his number, suggesting they get in contact. Though Winkler called the number repeatedly for an entire day, he never managed to get ahold of McCartney.
Winkler made the comment on the October 1 episode of the Fake Doctors, Real Friends With Zach and Donald podcast, where he also asked McCartney to call him back if he was listening.
The actor—who found fame as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on the sitcom Happy Days—told the hosts he had met most of the Beatles during his career. “I met every Beatle except for George [Harrison],” he said.
Winkler added: “I was walking on the street in New York City with my wife, and coming the other direction was Paul McCartney, and he went, ‘The Fonz!’
“We stood talking. A woman came out of a store, gave us each a rose. Another woman came up and said, ‘Hey do you mind if I just stand here?’ He said, ‘We’re in the middle of a conversation.’”
Henry Winkler at a Miami Book Fair event at Miami Dade College on November 17, 2023, with an inset of Sir Paul McCartney at the “Hey Grandude!” book signing at Waterstones Piccadilly in London on… Jason Koerner/Tim P. Whitby/Getty
“Then he gave me a phone number, and he said, ‘Let’s get in touch.’ And I, like an a******, called that number every 10 minutes for 24 hours,” Winkler continued, adding, “Never answered.”
“So if he is listening, I would just like to say: ‘I’m a really good guy. Could you call me back because I’d love to have lunch,’” the star said.
Happy Days, which starred Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham, began in the 1970s and became a huge hit, with Winkler one of its breakout stars. During his chat on the podcast, the hosts mentioned that at one point there was even talk of changing the name of the show to Fonzie’s Happy Days because there was so much buzz around his character.
Winkler said he asked them not to do it because “it would be such a slap in the face for everybody else.”
Newsweek has contacted representatives for Winkler, McCartney and Howard for comment via email.
Asked whether the focus on Fonzi ever bothered Howard, Winkler replied: “I think that he was signed on as the star of the show, and we had a drive home in his VW—the original little bug. We drove home from set. We were doing one of those two-part openings, and I said, ‘OK, Ron, we’ve got to talk about this.’
“And he said: ‘Look, it hurt my feelings. But you did not do anything. You don’t have an attitude. It’s good for the show. You didn’t try to outshine anybody.’”
Winkler added, “But that was the only time we ever talked about it, and he is still like my brother.”
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