Henry Winkler explains how his 30-year feud with Tom Hanks began
The feud of all feuds.
Henry Winkler addressed his rumored yearslong drama with Tom Hanks that began back in the 1980s during the May 7 episode of the “How To Fail” podcast.
The “Happy Days” star, 78, explained how he was fired from directing the 1989 buddy cop film “Turner & Hooch,” which starred Hanks, now 67, as a detective solving the murder of his former partner and caring for his dog.
“I did 11 weeks of preparation,” Winkler said about the project, which ended up being directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
“I knew this dog. This slobbery mastiff and I became friends. The star did not become my friend.”
Winkler was asked if he meant Hanks, and he responded, “I probably do.”
Before he was fired from the film, Winkler and Hanks had an interaction with a fan that Winkler believes caused a strain on their relationship.
“We were in Carmel, this little seaside wonderful town on the coast of California, looking for a location, and a woman comes, honest to God, comes running out of a shop and says ‘Henry, Fonz! Oh, my god!’ and I say, ‘And, of course, you know Tom Hanks,’ ” Winkler said.
“The director of photography, when I was fired 13 days into filming, said, ‘I knew that this was going to happen, on that day in Carmel,’ ” he added.
The Post has reached out to reps for Winkler and Hanks for comment.
Back in 1993, Winkler sparked the rumors about his feud with Hanks when he told People, “Let’s just say I got along better with Hooch than I did with Turner.”
The pair’s relationship became a hot topic again in 2020 when Winkler’s “Happy Days” co-star Ron Howard said it “was disappointing” that Winkler and Hanks didn’t get along
“I’m friends with them both, and both men felt compelled to come to talk to me about it,” said Howard, 70, in an interview with the Guardian. “It was just one of those unfortunate things where they really had a working style that did not fit.”
Howard added: “I know it was painful for both of them, and I was able to lend an ear, if not offer any solutions.”
Winker, for his part, downplayed the drama with Hanks in the past.
“I don’t have a feud with Tom Hanks,” Winkler bluntly told TMZ in January 2020. “What everybody says and what is true are two different things.”
Two years later, Winkler clarified that he and Hanks are “cordial” when they cross paths.
“I ran into Tom and Rita [Wilson] at an award show just before the pandemic, and it was very warm,” the “Barry” star said on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM radio show in June 2022.
“It’s all very cordial,” he added.
Hanks has never spoken about his alleged beef with Winkler.
The two shared the screen in an episode of “Happy Days” in 1982.
Hanks played a disgruntled former classmate of Winkler’s Fonzie.
