One of Henry Winkler's Iconic Roles Was a 'Favor' to Adam Sandler
Henry Winkler and Adam Sandler have shared the screen a handful of times over the years, but Winkler's role in one of their most famous movies together, 1998's The Waterboy, was entirely unplanned.
Winkler opened up about his role in the sports comedy in a recent interview on the Let's Talk Off-Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast.
"I did [The] Waterboy. He called me up in the middle of the night. He said, 'Henry, I need a favor. My actor didn't show up. I need you to drive right now to the park,'" Winkler recounted. "It's in L.A., it is now 11:30 at night. I go and I say, 'Okay.' I shave. I drive. I go. I sit. I get makeup until 3:30 in the morning."
It was an extreme act of kindness in the middle of the night, but Winkler's reward in the moment seemed quite lacking. "Do you know what I got? A cookie," he remembered. "I didn't even get to keep my wardrobe."
In The Waterboy, Winkler played the coach of a failing college football team who recruits their water boy, played by Sandler, to help revive their prospects. He ends up taking the struggling team to victory.
The Waterboy was Sandler and Winkler's first time working together, but it wasn't the last. They starred alongside each other in 2006's Click and 2008's You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Winkler also had cameo spots in Sandler's 2000 movie Little Nicky and 2017 movie Sandy Wexler.
Sandler's latest movie Spaceman is streaming now on Netflix.