Henry Winkler Explains How He Thinks His 30-Year Feud With Tom Hanks Began

Actor Henry Winkler divulged his take on the origins of his 30-year feud with fellow actor Tom Hanks.

He believes the decades-long spat goes back to just days before he was fired as a director on the 1989 buddy cop film Turner & Hooch.

The comedy film about a cop forced to care for and team up with a French Mastiff on a case starred Hanks and was originally supposed to be directed by Winkler.

However, the Happy Days star-turned-director reportedly had a falling out with Hanks on set, which led to Winkler's directing duties being taken over by Roger Spottiswoode.

You can hear Winkler discuss his firing from the movie on the How to Fail podcast episode clip here.

Henry Winkler on being fired from directing Turner & Hooch - How To Fail with Elizabeth Dayyoutu.be

Winkler learned that one of the most important lessons was never to second-guess yourself. He recalled getting a call from the head of the Disney studios in the mid-'80s requesting him to direct Turner & Hooch.

He impulsively said "Yes," explaining that his ego got in the way of his initial instinct to turn down the request.

"Your instinct knows everything and your head knows a little bit, but my ego got involved."

The 78-year-old Barry star said he did “11 weeks of preparation" and got well-acquainted with the animal actor.

"This slobbery dog and I became friends," recalled Winkler, and said of Hanks: 

"The star did not become my friend.”

When host Elizabeth Day asked if he meant Tom Hanks when he said "the star," he replied:

“I probably do."

He shared an anecdote about a fan interaction he experienced while preparing production on Turner & Hooch that may have started the rift between him and Hanks.

“We were in Carmel, this little seaside wonderful town on the coast of California, looking for a location,” Winkler said, adding:

“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.’"

"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.'”

You can listen to the entire podcast episode here.

People were today years old when they learned that two of the nicest guys in Hollywood were not friends.

One fan jokingly traced their beef back to this scene from an episode of Happy Days.

HAPPY DAYS - "Fonzie Fights His Childhood Nemesis - Tom Hanks" - The Fonzyoutu.be

Reports of their supposed feud date back to a 1993 People interview when Winkler was asked about Hanks, to which Winkler replied:

"Let’s just say I got along better with Hooch than I did with Turner.”

Rumors of their feud resurfaced in 2020 when Winkler's Happy Days co-star and two-time Academy Award-winning film director Ron Howard said, without taking sides:

“It was disappointing. I’m friends with them both and both men felt compelled to come to talk to me about it."

"It was just one of those unfortunate things where they really had a working style that did not fit," Howard told The Guardian, adding:

"I know it was painful for both of them and I was able to lend an ear, if not offer any solutions.”

Winkler also touched on their beef on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in a 2022 episode.

A fan had called in and asked Winkler to elaborate on tensions between them and if he ever saw Turner & Hooch.

Winkler never mentioned the movie by title but did say he was fired from the "dog movie" 13 days after filming started.

Viewers were sad then to learn that Winkler vs. Hanks was a thing.

Some fans have already taken sides.

Winkler and Hanks appeared to have buried the hatchet four years ago.

In a 2020 TMZ interview, Winkler responded to a question about the rumored bad blood with Hanks and said:

“I don’t have a feud with Tom Hanks. What everybody says and what is true are two different things."

"I just saw him at our SAG Awards. It was beautiful.”

Winkler seemed to suggest that their beef didn't necessarily constitute a feud.

While we'll never know his honest assessment of Hanks, we do know he had a lot of affection for that dog.