Henry Winkler was too cool for the original Scream poster

Calling his anecdote about his time playing doomed Principal Arthur Himbry in Craven’s influential slasher “a parable for anybody who wants to be an actor,” Winkler told his host about his disillusioning brush with the film’s marketing department. “The studio comes to me and says, ‘We can’t put your name on the film. We cannot put you anywhere near the poster,'” Winkler reports, noting that execs cited his time as Happy Days‘ Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli would “knock the balance of horror off” if people saw Winkler’s face on the film’s poster. 

Winkler, benevolent bringer of cakes to film crews everywhere according to Barry costar Bill Hader, is still an actor with some pride, as evidenced by his confession that he was “bewildered,” “upset” and “insulted” by the slight at the time. Naturally, noted mensch Winkler then agreed to then do press for the film due to his allegiance to the people he’d worked with (most of whom got their mugs on all the advertising.)

 And while it had been some 12 years at that point since Happy Days ended its run, maybe the universally beloved actor can take solace in the fact that his then most famous character loomed large enough to rob him of some marquee face time.