Henry Winkler Says “Happy Days” Guest Star Robin Williams Had a ‘Mount Vesuvius of Imagination’

need to know

• Henry Winkler remembers being surprised by Robin Williams when he guest starred on Happy Days

• Williams’ Happy Days role as Mork the Alien was his screen debut

• Williams also starred in the spinoff series mork and mindy

Henry Winkler knew right away that Robin Williams was special.

Winkler, 80, spoke candidly about working with Williams, who died in 2014 at age 63, at FanExpo San Francisco, which he attended over Thanksgiving weekend. There, he met again happy Days costars Anson Williams and Don Most, and they participated in a panel discussion together happy DaysWhich ran from 1974 to 1984.

Winkler starred in the series as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli during each season of the show. Meanwhile, Williams made her screen debut in the fifth season episode “My Favorite Orkan”. He played the role of Mork, an alien Ork. The character proved so popular that Williams starred in a spinoff, mork and mindyand returned to Happy Days for season six episodes.

In a video from FanExpo posted on TikTok by ItsRecTimeMedia on December 1, Winkler recalled meeting Williams for the first time. So here’s a guy, he comes in, you know, very simple. And then they put a script in his hand, and I said to him, ‘Hey, you want to rumble?’ He imitated Fonzie’s more fast delivery. But Williams, instead of answering, as Winkler demonstrated, began singing and dancing to the theme. West Side Story,

Winkler immediately got the picture and told himself to “know your line so you don’t have to do it over and over again.” What’s another rule he made for himself while working with Williams? “Stay out of his way, for you will never be able to stand face to face with this Mount Vesuvius of the imagination.”

mork and mindy The writers realized that it was Williams’ job to improvise and decided to get out of his way. Winkler remembered, ,Our scripts were 54 pages long., ,Their, on their set, they were 30 pages long. Because it said, ‘Robin is going to say something here.’ ,

Williams was famous for his improvisational comedy in almost every role he played. In 1989, happy Days Producer Garry Marshall wrote an essay for People in which he recalled Williams’ first appearance on the show and how the Happy Days main cast was always happy to give guest stars a chance to shine.

“(Williams) was all over the place and doing some improv, and they accommodated him. At the end of the episode, 300 people in the audience stood up and applauded, which isn’t usually done. It didn’t take a genius to know he could have his own show, and we created one for him, mork and mindyMarshall wrote.

back in november, Sesame Street Star Sonia Manzano (who played Maria on the show for more than 40 years) told People about a similar conversation she had with Williams.

“It was thrilling to have Robin Williams on the show, and I wrote one of the Robin Williams bits, and so when it airs, I’m very proud to say, you know, ‘I wrote that bit,’ and take credit,” she said. “But then I say, ‘And you know what? He actually used two words that I actually wrote,'” she said, laughing.

mrs doubtfire Director Chris Columbus shared in 2023 that the crew filled “about 2 million feet of film” with their improvisational work. He told Business Insider that he had to use 4 cameras to ensure there was coverage of what Williams would do as well as his co-stars’ reactions.

Read the original article on People