Henry Winkler Was Shocked Robert De Niro Remembered Their First Meeting 40 Years Later: 'I Dropped the Camera'

Mar. 15, 2025

Robert De Niro (left) and Henry Winkler.Photo:Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images, Lionel Hahn/Getty Images

Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images, Lionel Hahn/Getty Images

EvenHenry Winklergets starstruck!

Winkler, 78, recently told “one of my favorite Hollywood stories” — the story of how he first metRobert De Niro— on the Wednesday, Oct. 9, episode ofKelly Ripa’s podcast SiriusXM’sLet’s Talk off Camerawith Kelly Ripa. During the interview, he shared that De Niro, 81, surprisingly remembered exactly what they spoke about when they crossed paths again decades later.

“SoRon Howardand I are walking down the street on Paramount,” Winker explained, recalling that he and Howard were taking a break from rehearsals forHappy Days, the 1970s ABC sitcom they costarred in at the time. “Leaning against the doorframe is Robert De Niro, he’s doing a scene fromGodfather II.”

Robert De Niro (left); Henry Winkler.Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images, Joan Adlen/Getty Images

Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images, Joan Adlen/Getty Images

“Okay, so we go up and we say hello and we are finished and we’re going to walk away and I turned around and I said, ‘Mr. De Niro, I just have to tell you, you use the word ‘f—’ better than anybody on the planet,’ " he added.

As Winkler explained, when he crossed paths with De Niro again at a premiere for the two-timeOscarwinner’s 2015 movieThe Interndecades later, De Niro still remembered their exact conversation from the ’70s.

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“We go to the premiere party, [wife Stacey Weitzman] and I, and against the back wall, Robert De Niro is wearing one of those Irish caps,” Winkler recalled. “I walk up to him. I turn, I stand against the wall. I’m looking at him and I said, I have to ask you — like every fan has asked me – I need to take a selfie with you. He said, ‘Okay.’ I get my camera out. I’m taking the selfie. And he says, ‘40 years ago, you said I used the word f— better than anybody,’ "

Henry Winkler on Jan. 15, 2024.Kevin Mazur/Getty

Kevin Mazur/Getty

“I dropped the camera,” Winkler said of his reaction. “I went, ‘He remembers. Oh my God, I exist. Oh, this is the most amazing thing.’ That’s my great story.”

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New episodes of SiriusXM’sLet’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripaare available every Wednesday on the SiriusXM app and wherever podcasts are available.

source: people.com