‘DAMN FOOL’

Henry Winkler Says He Regrets Turning Down Lead Role in Grease

The actor joked that he now goes home to have a “diet coke,” while Travolta, who took the role, “buys a plane.”

Happy Days actor Henry Winkler agreed with CNN’s Chris Wallace in an interview broadcast yesterday that he was a “damn fool” for turning down the role of Danny Zuko in Grease—a part that was eventually played by John Travolta. Winkler played the iconic character Arthur Fonzarelli on the long-running sitcom from 1974 to 1984. “I thought: I’ve played the Fonz, I’m not going to do it again,’ Winkler told Wallace as he recalled being offered the role. “I should have just shut up and had a really good time making that movie.” Grease was the highest-grossing musical film ever at the time of its release, and catapulted Travolta to stardom.