Henry Winkler was sure of Robin Williams' successful future the moment he saw him auditioning for Happy Days.
During the October 1 episode of the Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald* podcast, the 78-year-old actor shared his experience of sitting in on auditions for the role of Mork, a Martian visiting Earth, after the original actor left the show.
“When Robin came to audition, now it's Wednesday. We start Monday morning at 10 o'clock on the soundstage. That is at, 9 o'clock, we read. 10 o'clock, we're on the soundstage,” Winkler started reminiscing. “Nobody wanted to play this alien from outer space.”
“Finally, a young, very shy, very quiet man comes with the casting director,” he continued, gushing about Williams' ability to change between different personalities in a moment.
“And then this human being picked up the script. When he opened his mouth, it was like a volcano went off on stage 19 at Paramount.”
“And I knew, get out of his way, know my lines, and don't try to stand toe to toe with this genius that is now standing in front of me,” he added.
Williams first appeared as Mork, the alien from Ork, in season 5, episode 22 of Happy Days.
The episode, titled My Favorite Orkan, follows Richie (played by Ron Howard) as he struggles to convince everyone that he saw a UFO and met an alien named Mork, who wants to take him back to Ork as a specimen of the average human.