Despite being an icon in his own right (he was the Fonz, after all), Henry Winkler still gets excited when meeting his favorite stars. He gets even more so when they remember the encounters decades later, as he revealed on an episode of the Sirius XM podcast, Lets Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa.
The television actor told host Kelly Ripa that, not only did he get to meet Robert De Niro while the Hollywood legend was filming The Godfather Part II (1974), but De Niro actually remembered their encounter 40 years later, recalling it at a premiere in 2015.
Chance meeting on the Paramount Pictures lot
Describing the tale as “one of my favorite Hollywood stories,” Henry Winkler explained that he was rehearsing for Happy Days (1974-84) when he and co-star Ron Howard took a break to walk through the Paramount Pictures lot. It was during the trip that the pair unexpectedly came across Robert De Niro.
“Ron Howard and I are walking down the street on Paramount. Leaning against the doorframe is Robert De Niro, he’s doing a scene from Godfather II,” Winkler recalled. “I said to Ron, we’ve got to go and say hello.”
Despite being more established than De Niro at the time (Winkler already had a handful television and film credits under his belt, while De Niro was just starting out in the industry), the Happy Days star was over-the-moon to meet the burgeoning actor.
“So we go up and we say hello and we are finished and we’re going to walk away and I turned around and I said, ‘Mr. De Niro, I just have to tell you, you use the word ‘f**k’ better than anybody on the planet.'”
Robert De Niro remembers his encounter with Henry Winkler
Fast forward just over 40 years later, to the premiere of Robert De Niro‘s Oscar-winning film, The Intern. Henry Winkler and his wife had been invited to the event, which featured an afterparty for attendees. While chances were high that they’d at least catch a glimpse of De Niro, it appears Winkler didn’t expect to catch up with him.
Even more unexpected? That the actor would remember their meeting all those decades ago.
“We go to the premiere party, [wife Stacey Weitzman] and I, and against the back wall, Robert De Niro is wearing one of those Irish caps,” Winkler shared. “I walk up to him. I turn, I stand against the wall. I’m looking at him and I said, I have to ask you – like every fan has asked me – I need to take a selfie with you. He said, ‘Okay.’
“I get my camera out,” he continued. “I’m taking the selfie. And he says, ’40 years ago, you said I used the word f**k better than anybody.’ I dropped the camera. I went, ‘He remembers. Oh my God, I exist. Oh, this is the most amazing thing.'”
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We have to agree with Winkler, this is definitely one of our favorite Hollywood stories.