Henry Winkler Says Scream Kept Him Off Poster Over Fonz Fame

Henry Winkler says he was kept off the poster for Scream because audiences would see the Fonz, not a victim.

Winkler played Principal Arthur Himbry in the original 1996 Scream, and described the marketing decision in an interview for “In Depth With Graham Besinger,” as reported by Variety.

The studio message was blunt. “We can’t put your name on the film. We cannot put you anywhere near the poster,” Winkler said he was told. The reason, he said, was his long association with Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli. Executives argued that letting audiences know he was in the cast would “knock the balance of horror off.”

That reasoning stung at the time. Winkler said he felt insulted, bewildered and upset, though he did not overtly protest the call. He realised the audience recognised him instantly when his character’s entrance drew applause during test screenings in a theatre, a standard check where a rough cut is shown to gauge reactions.

He still turned up for the release. Winkler said he later agreed to do press for Scream for himself, for director Wes Craven and for the film as a whole.

Winkler has also spoken separately about filming Himbry’s death scene, telling PEOPLE that Craven asked him to perform the bloody sequence twice. The outlet published that conversation on 1 September 2026. He revisited the moment even earlier, in April 2019, when Entertainment Weekly featured him looking back at the death scene for its Couch Surfing series.

What makes this stand out is the logic of horror casting. A familiar face can settle an audience. For Scream, the studio wanted surprise to do the work, so it left one of its most recognisable names out of the sell.