Henry Winkler Opens Up About Rejecting “Grease”: 'I Spent Most of My Adult Life Being Frightened' (Exclusive)

The star, whose new memoir 'Being Henry' hits bookshelves on Oct. 31, was at the height of his Fonzie fame when he turned down the lead role that ultimately went to John Travolta in the 1978 musical classic

It only took one word — spread across three syllables — for Henry Winkler to go down in television history.

In his first audition for Happy Days, Winkler dropped his iconic  “Ayyy,” which became an immediate signature for his 1950's greaser Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli.

But after his effortlessly cool character became a bedrock of the hit American sitcom across the show’s 10-year run, Winkler found himself paralyzed by fears of being typecast, going so far as to turn down the role of Danny Zuko in 1978's Grease, which was ultimately played by John Travolta, he writes in his new memoir, Being Henry: The Fonz...And Beyond.

“I was dumb,” Winkler, 77, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. "I spent so much energy, so much time - I spent so many sleepless nights thinking, how do I not get typecast?”

What would he tell actors facing a similar predicament today? “You go with the flow. What you do is you prepare to reinvent yourself. You do something completely different and then come back to center.”

Related: Henry Winkler Struggled with Lines as the Fonz, Felt 'So F---ing' Angry After Dyslexia Diagnosis (Exclusive)

Winkler struggled to find his next great part after Happy Days wrapped in 1984, and ultimately turned to producing until supporting roles in films like Scream and Adam Sandler's The Waterboy came along. ("Loyal, funny, wise, serious, a good dad and in charge of every detail," is how Winkler describes Sandler, who went on to cast him in five of his comedies.)

It wasn’t until Arrested Development that Winkler, playing the hilariously incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn, got to show off his Yale School of Drama-taught improv chops in a fresh way, followed by his Emmy-winning turn in HBO's Barry playing the insufferable acting coach Gene Cousineau opposite Bill Hader.

“I spent most of my adult life being frightened, on the outside looking like I had it together and mostly being anxious. The biggest lesson, I really now believe today in 2023 looking back, is not only must you be tenacious, not only must you be grateful, but you also have to be flexible,” Winkler says.

Related: Henry Winkler's 'Happy Days' Fame Stunned His Wife When 'the Entire Theater Came Over' on First Movie Date (Exclusive)

"You have to take a leap of faith. You have to jump off the precipice and just trust you're going to fly, because there were so many years I was not hired as an actor," he continues. "I have a family, I have a house. What am I going to do? And then somebody suggested I become a producer. I start off saying, 'I can't do it. I'm dyslexic. I have no idea what the business is. I can't do it.' And then finally you say, 'Oh, just shut up and try.'"

"So I think 'shut up and try' might be the most important lesson that I could pass on to somebody," he adds.

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Meanwhile, those fallow years after Happy Days ultimately spawned a successful second act for Winkler, who reveals his private, often painful struggle with dyslexia in his new memoir.

“My lawyer said, ‘I'm going to start a production company for you,’” he recalls. “I said, ‘I can't do that. I'm dyslexic. I can't do it. That's crazy. I don't know anything about business.’ He said, ‘You'll learn.’ And the first show that my company produced was MacGyver. And then I knew what I could do and what I couldn't do.”

Related: Who Is Henry Winkler's Wife? All About Stacey Weitzman

In Being Henry, Winkler describes a tough childhood struggling with undiagnosed dyslexia with his German refugee parents who would often scream at him and castigated him over his struggles in school, cruelly nicknaming him dummer Hund (translation: dumb dog).

Today, Winkler has enjoyed a fruitful side career as a children’s book author. To date, he has written 38 children’s books, including his latest, Detective Duck: The Case of the Strange Splash.

“Sometimes I secretly squeal that I am part of a writing team,” says Winkler, who has long collaborated with children's author Lin Oliver.

The first time he saw his name on his book's cover, “my brain turned into cream cheese. I stopped talking. I picked the book up. I smelled it. I rubbed it on my hair. I couldn't believe this was my reality. Dummer Hund had written a book.”

For more on Henry Winkler, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here. 

Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond hits bookshelves on Oct. 31.

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