The director says that Henry Winkler, who played Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli to his Richie Cunningham on the ABC sitcom Happy Days, which aired for 11 seasons between 1974 and 1984, was responsible for him landing one of his first big directing projects.
"Henry was always so supportive of that. When Henry said yes to Night Shift, that's what got that movie greenlit," Howard told PEOPLE Wednesday as he promoted Apple TV+'s The Studio, which the director appeared in this season, at the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles. "He played a hand in helping my dream ultimately come true, which was to be a studio, Hollywood, feature director."
Howard's gone on to do just that, having been behind the lens of films including 2002's A Beautiful Mind, for which he won Best Director at the Oscars, as well as movies such as Willow, Apollo 13, Cinderella Man, and Frost/Nixon.
But back in 1982, the year Night Shift was released, he only had a handful of directing credits. Landing one of TV's most recognizable faces as part of his cast was a big deal. And people loved Winkler's character on Happy Days. The cool, leather jacket-wearing, thumbs-up giving Fonzie would certainly add buzz to a project at the time.
Howard's finished film costarred TV actor Michael Keaton and Shelley Long, whose Cheers debut was a couple months away when the movie was released.
He said that it was something he'd been wanting for years.
"I was working on my dream of directing throughout the Happy Days run," said Howard, who was on the series for its first seven seasons and returned in the last. "On the weekends, I was renting 16-millimeter sound equipment, and making short films. I directed my first movie for Roger Corman, Grand Theft Auto, on hiatus from Happy Days in season 3, I think."
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
When he left the series, Howard said, he had a contract to produce and direct television movies.
"Then soon [producing partner] Brian Grazer and I connected on Night Shift," Howard said. "Four years after that, [production company] Imagine [Entertainment] was born."
Howard and Winkler are still close friends -- Winkler is the godfather of Howard's daughter, actress Bryce Dallas Howard -- more than 50 years after their show debuted.