What happened with Henry Winkler and Tom Hanks? Happy Days actor details decade long rift with movie star

Henry Winkler knew before he ever stepped onto the set that something was off. The Happy Days star has made multiple headlines after he opened up on In Depth With Graham Bensinger about a falling out with Tom Hanks that has never fully gone away. Henry Winkler basically detailed the events that unfolded during the production of the 1989 film Turner & Hooch, in which Hanks was the lead.

Winkler had privately doubted whether he was the right fit to direct the project from the start, though a Paramount executive had brought him in personally for the job.

"I went completely against my tummy, and it hit me in the face with a 2x4," he said.

"I now meet the puppies, and I meet with Tom [Hanks]... and I, at that time being insecure, I talked too much and I gave them direction. I [did] what I thought was my job, and I wanted to do it over again and apparently that p*ssed them off," he added.

Studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg pulled Winkler in after just thirteen days of shooting, and the conversation was brief. Winkler shared that Katzenberg told him it simply was not showing up in the dailies, and that was that.

"I then go to the set. I get my things. I drive home. I'm fired as a director... I don't handle it well. I'm devastated," he added.

Winkler has since been open about wrestling with whether he and Tom Hanks, now seventy years old, can ever move past it.

Henry Winkler recalls the moment a fan in California changed things between him and Tom Hanks:

Winkler had actually spoken about the Turner & Hooch situation before, during a 2024 episode of the How To Fail podcast, where he opened up about the eleven weeks of preparation he had put into the project. He bonded with the dog on set and even spoke about it fondly, though his dynamic with Hanks was a very different story.

"I knew this dog. This slobbery mastiff and I became friends. The star did not become my friend," he said.

When asked whether he meant Tom Hanks specifically, Winkler replied,

"I probably do."

Henry Winkler went on to share a story from a location scout in Carmel, a coastal California town, where a woman came running out of a shop and went straight to him, greeting him as Fonzie while completely overlooking Hanks, who was standing right there. Winkler introduced Hanks to her on the spot, a situation which he believes played a part in the tension that followed between them on set.

The cinematographer on the project later made a pointed remark to Winkler after the firing.

"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 film was eventually completed under director Roger Spottiswoode.

Henry Winkler is still working on his perspective regarding Tom Hanks:

During the same interview on In Depth With Graham Bensinger, Winkler was asked directly about his current perspective on the relationship with Hanks.

"I am still working on my perspective," he said,

He added that he does recall a connection between their worlds beyond Turner & Hooch.

"I think his wife, Rita [Wilson], was also a guest on Happy Days in the beginning," Winkler shared.

When the conversation turned to whether the rift could ever be mended, Henry Winkler kept it short. Asked if he thought things between them would ever repair themselves, he simply replied,

"Sure."

Henry Winkler also shared that despite everything, he still holds on to something Hanks made for him back during their time on the production. During the meetings they held together before Winkler was removed from the project, Hanks had been building a model plane and eventually signed it and gave it to him.

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"It was a model plane… While we were having meetings he built a plastic Piper Cub or something like that. Yeah," he said.

As per a report shared by People, Winkler still owns the model plane to this day.

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