Why Henry Winkler Turned Down John Travolta’s Grease Role

Many actors have a sliding doors moment in their career when they pass up a choice role in a soon-to-be iconic movie. For some, it isn’t a huge deal. Denzel Washington, for example, already had two Oscar nominations and one win under his belt by the time he decided he didn’t want to star in David Fincher’s “Se7en.” Sure, he later came to regret turning away one of the defining films of the ’90s, but he was already an established star and would be just fine without it. That isn’t always the case when an actor hasn’t quite built up the body of work to go around rejecting great parts –- just take Henry Winkler and Danny Zuko in “Grease.”

Winkler was virtual unknown when he won the chance to play Fonzie on “Happy Days.” Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli started out as a minor supporting character but quickly became an audience favorite by providing the perfect foil for Ron Howard’s clean-cut Richie Cunningham. A strutting greaser with a warm heart beneath his too-cool-for-school attitude, Fonzie stole just about every scene with his catchphrases (“Correctamundo!”) and his magic touch with the girls and the jukebox. “Happy Days” had made Winkler a household name by the time “Grease” came along with a part that would have fitted him like the Fonz’s trademark leather jacket, not to mention help the actor make a major breakthrough in Hollywood. But Winkler had his reasons for turning it down, leaving the door open for John Travolta to accept it instead.

The 1950s-set musical production of “Grease,” following the exploits of a group of teenagers in a tough Chicago high school, went from playing small theaters in the Windy City to an award-winning Broadway show in the early ’70s. It provided a magnet for many young up-and-coming actors: Richard Gere, Patrick Swayze, Peter Gallagher, Adrienne Barbeau, and a young chap named John Travolta all played roles at one point or another. Meanwhile, Barry Bostwick (better known as Brad in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”) took the lead part of Danny Zuko in the original Broadway show.

Randal Kleiser’s big screen adaptation moved the action from Chicago to the sunny west coast. Winkler, still riding high as the Fonz in “Happy Days,” seemed like a shoo-in for the part of Danny opposite Olivia Newton-John (whom Travolta fought tooth and nail to cast).Yet, the role was almost too perfect for Winkler, who rejected it because he didn’t want to be typecast as greaser characters. It’s a decision he still regrets to this day. “I was dumb,” he told People in 2023. “I spent so much energy, so much time — I spent so many sleepless nights thinking, ‘How do I not get typecast?'”

So, Kleiser and producer Robert Stigwood turned to Travolta instead. Not only was he an alumni of the stage show, but he had also worked with both before — with Kleiser on “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” and Stigwood on “Saturday Night Fever.” For the latter, Travolta received an Oscar nomination, while “Grease” would make him a superstar.

“Saturday Night Fever” and “Grease” were back-to-back hits for John Travolta, with the latter becoming the highest-grossing movie of 1978 (domestically). That film also made him and his co-star Olivia Newton-John world famous, but the success was relatively short-lived. Newton-John’s career dropped off sharply after her next movie, “Xanadu,” was a Razzie-nominated disaster. Meanwhile, Travolta followed “Grease” up with decent roles in “Urban Cowboy” and “Blow Out” before his stock also plummeted after re-teaming with Newton-John in “Two of a Kind.”

Elsewhere, Winkler carried on playing the Fonz until “Happy Days” was canceled in 1984. He made a few movie appearances in the meantime, most notably starring in Ron Howard’s “Night Shift,” but he never got the big breakthrough that “Grease” might have provided. His most famous character also became notorious for inspiring the phrase “Jump the shark,” referring to an episode when the Fonz pulls off a death-defying stunt on water skis while still wearing his leather jacket.

Winkler went on to carve out a modest career in Hollywood, also co-producing Rob Reiner’s “The Sure Thing” and directing a few movies of his own. Two years after Travolta’s career was resuscitated in “Pulp Fiction,” Winkler enjoyed an acting resurgence after he was cast as the Principal in “Scream.” Since then, he has appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, regularly appearing in Adam Sandler flicks and winning an Emmy for his performance in “Barry.” But it’s still a case of what might have been. Who knows, if he had taken the part of Danny Zuko, he might’ve ended up playing Vincent Vega instead of Travolta.