Happy Days star Anson Williams revealed he chose singing as a second career because sitcom pay wasn’t enough

When the role of Potsie Weber in “Happy Days” did not earn enough, actor Anson Williams offered another activity: a musical career.

In a recent interview on the “Still Here Hollywood Podcast,” the 77-year-old actor revealed that singing was simply a matter of 1970s economics.

“During ‘Happy Days,’ we didn’t have the same salaries as we do today. Not even close,” he said. “Nine hundred dollars an episode, $1,200 an episode. It was good at the time, but…that’s not a lifetime of income there.”

Williams said that after talking to “Partridge Family” star David Cassidy and Barry Williams of “The Brady Bunch” about how much money they were making by taking their singing acts off the show, he thought, “Wait a minute. I sing. If I can convince Garry to put a band on the show, maybe I can get booked, and maybe I can get some extra income.”

After talking with series creator Garry Marshall about putting together a band to perform at Arnold’s, the hamburger restaurant where Fonzie held court, the legendary director gave him a chance. Marshall told him he should pick a song and sing it to a bulldog, telling him, “If you’re good, I’ll laugh. If you’re bad, I’ll laugh. You’ll sing the bulldog.”

“So I do it and then the letters start coming in, and he says ‘People like this. People like this.’ He said: “We will do more. But you’re the one responsible for it,” Williams recalled. “Then I found a major agent for it and started getting booked for state fairs for 10 years.”

Williams added that his idea to sing on the show “started this whole career” that ended up being better for him financially and was “just a whole different life experience.”

After finding success as a musician and actor, Williams said Marshall approached him to express how proud he was of the actor, telling him, “You found an opportunity and you’re helping the show.”

During an interview with Fox News Digital in March 2024, Williams revealed that although the show started out as a hit with audiences, ranking in the top 15 or 20, it had slipped to 48th place at one point and was “on the verge of being canceled.”

“And Garry Marshall and Jerry Paris, our director, said, ‘What if we changed the whole tone? What if we made it a live-action sitcom?'” Williams recalls. “So, half the season, one camera. The next season, one camera. The next season – two and a half – they do it in public live. And the chemistry of the casting, the writing, was magical. That’s the year we became No. 1 in the world. That’s when we exploded.”

When the series became a huge hit, Williams recalled that Marshall advised her and her younger co-stars to use their platforms for good, telling them to step into whatever spotlight they were in and “shin it at the people who deserve it.”

After his stint on “Happy Days,” Williams turned to work more as a writer and director.

He has directed episodes of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “Lizzie McGuire,” “Charmed,” “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and more.

Despite all of his success, Williams never forgot the advice Marshall gave him during his time on “Happy Days.”

“Ron Howard and I made a movie called ‘Skyward,’ starring the first paraplegic in television history,” he said. “We made films like ‘No Greater Gift,’ which doubled as organ donation cards. Henry has made many films on social issues of the week, after-school specials and charity work.”

“Even today, we are trying to shed light to improve things,” he added.