Henry Winkler Reveals the One Moment From His First TV Job That Changed Everything
Henry Winkler has long been known as one if the nicest guys in Hollywood.
The actor, who became a household name in the 1970s playing Fonzie on the ABCsitcomHappy Days and later won an Emmy for his role in Barry, recently revealed he learned a lesson early on that shaped his entire career. The teachable moment came a year before Happy Days, when he was a guest on an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
During a June 2026 appearance on Ted Danson's Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, Winkler, 80, recalled, "When I first came out here [to Hollywood], the first job I ever got was Mary Tyler Moore, which were the Friends of that time."
"And they called lunch and everybody scattered," the actor shared. "Now this is my insanity. I, of course, am feeling abandoned. I am standing on a professional set being a professional. Everybody's got a place to go. I will later learn: They call lunch. You go to your room, and you make a phone call. You meet a friend. You have a wurst at the Paramount commissary."
Winkler admitted that instead of doing any of those things, he froze.
"I stood there, and it was like one of those shots where the camera is on a crane and it keeps going higher and higher, and the floor is empty, and it's just you," he continued. "Like, I could have asked somebody, ‘Hey, where does everybody go for lunch?' No, I just felt sorry for myself. And I swore at that moment as the camera was pulling up on the crane, I will never let another actor feel that way on a set I'm on."
Not only did he take a lifelong lesson with him, but Winkler credited his freshman experience with paving the way for his life-changing Happy Days role, where he had 11 seasons to make other actors feel comfortable on set.
"The first thing was TheMary Tyler Moore Show. And the second thing was Bob Newhart because Mary Tyler Moore's husband, Grant Tinker …they were very loyal, and so then I got hired and then I got Happy Days," Winkler said.
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Shortly after moving to Hollywood, Winkler landed a role in the 1973 Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "The Dinner Party," playing unexpected dinner guest Steve Waldman. In the episode, Mary has exactly six portions of Veal Prince Orllof for seven dinner guests. She also doesn't have room at the table for Winkler's character, who she ultimately seats alone across the room.
In a 2022 interview onThe Jess Cagle Show, Winkler confirmed that everyone on the classic CBS sitcom was very nice to him.
"They were lovely," Winkler said of the Mary Tyler Moore Show cast, before admitting he also "learned a big lesson" when lunch break was called and everyone disappeared.
"And I thought at that moment, ‘If my career blossoms, this will never happen to a young person who comes to a set I'm on,'" the Happy Days legend said.
As for his nice-guy image, Winkler told People magazine he doesn't really consider himself to be Mr. Nice. "What I finally realized is I'm not nice," he said. "I'm enjoying being on this earth. I'm grateful, and my gratitude makes me joyful. And that is the truth. I get up that way."
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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 12:00 PM.