Henry Winkler reveals the co-star who got under his skin: ”He was an a**back”

The beloved ABC sitcom was a television phenomenon during the 1970s, at one point attracting an estimated 50 million viewers a week. Yet Winkler says the cast largely avoided the egos that could come with that kind of success.

“The truth of the matter is really on our set, there was no stardom,” Winkler, 80, said during a July 11 panel at Fanboy Expo Knoxville alongside former castmates Anson Williams and Don Most.

“We were an ensemble. We worked hard at making it funny every week.”

But there was apparently one exception.

Winkler recalled a guest actor who appeared on the sitcom several times and repeatedly talked about the amount of fan mail he was receiving.

“One guy came on as a guest star, and then he was brought back a few times. And he would mention his fan mail. And I said, ‘You don’t wanna talk to me about fan mail. I got 50,000 letters a week.’”

Winkler apparently made it clear that he didn’t want celebrity status becoming a competition on set.

“And I said, ‘We don’t talk about that on the set. We are all here as one,’” the actor added.

But according to Winkler, the message didn’t get through.

“And he kept doing it, and he was an assback.”