Henry Winkler has shared one of his “favourite Hollywood” stories.
On the podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, Winker recalled his memorable meeting with Robert De Niro.
The meeting took place 40 years ago while he was filming Happy Days alongside Ron Howard.
Winkler recalled “Ron Howard and I are walking down the street on Paramount” during their rehearsal break, when they saw “leaning against the doorframe is Robert De Niro, he’s doing a scene from Godfather II.”
They decided to “go and say hello” and as they were about to walk away Winkler said, “I turned around and I said, ‘Mr. De Niro, I just have to tell you, you use the word ‘f—‘ better than anybody on the planet.'”
Decades later when he met Di Niro at the premiere of 2015 film The Intern, Winkler was shocked to find out that the Oscar winner remembered their earlier conversation.
“Robert De Niro is wearing one of those Irish caps. 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, adding, “I’m taking the selfie. And he says, ’40 years ago, you said I used the word f— better than anybody.'”
“I dropped the camera,” Winkler said of his reaction. “I went, ‘He remembers. Oh my God, I exist. Oh, this is the most amazing thing.’ That’s my great story,” Winkler concluded.
