After his stint as one of the Monkees, drummer, vocalist and all-around goof Micky Dolenz knew his acting career would stall. “I grew up in a showbiz family and heard the term ‘typecasting’ before I could walk. My dad was an actor and got typecast as a swashbuckling romantic lead in sword-fighting movies,” Dolenz told People. “I knew I wouldn’t get an acting gig (after The Monkees).”
He remembered going into auditions after his sitcom was canceled, with casting directors asking, “What are you doing here? We don’t need any drummers!”
But while parts were hard to find, Dolenz did find himself a finalist for a plum sitcom role a few years later. It was 1973, and he was being considered for the part of Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli on a new sitcom called Happy Days. “I almost got it,” Dolenz claimed. “Supposedly, it was between me and Henry (Winkler). He remembers it too. The story I heard is that he was in the waiting room, saw me come in, and thought, ‘Oh s***, I’ll never get this — Micky Dolenz is here!’ So we laugh about it now. He’s a good friend and a brilliant talent.”
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While he might have been intimidated by the sight of a Monkee, Winkler doesn’t mention that apprehension in his memoir, Being Henry. Remembering his initial auditions, Winkler recalls “60 or 70 very handsome young guys” waiting to read for the part. He didn’t see how he’d have a chance. Most of the actors were taller than him. And here’s me. The short Jew from New York, he thought.
Being convinced he had no shot gave Winkler the nerve to strut into the audition room, then throw his pages in the air once he’d finished. The ballsy move earned him a callback. Winkler returned and read for Barry Diller, Michael Eisner and Happy Days producer Garry Marshall. The two execs weren’t convinced, but Marshall supposedly said, “Trust me. The kid is good. I’m going to use him.”
One possible reason Winkler got the part? Dolenz was six feet tall and towered over most of the other potential cast members, including five-foot-nine Ron Howard. Winkler, at five-feet-six, presented no such worries.
The decision between Dolenz and Winkler was “extremely close,” according to Anson “Potsie” Williams on the Classic Conversations with Jeff Dwoskin podcast. Williams remembered that the Fonzie part was originally written as a cartoonish tough guy, but Winkler’s audition changed everything. “Micky is incredibly talented, but Henry created something original.”
Dolenz says the right man won the job. “Oh my God, he’s just so good. I was definitely not as good as he was,” he told People. “Come on — he was The Fonz! He had that New York, New Jersey thing down. I’m from Southern California. It wasn’t gonna happen!”
