“Happy Days” is one of the most beloved television shows of all time, and arguably the most popular character on it was Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli, who was played masterfully by Henry Winkler. In a recent interview, Winkler opened up about how he was cast as Fonzie, and about what it was like to play him.

Much to the surprise of fans, Winkler revealed that a big part of why he was cast as Fonzie was his height, as another Hollywood star who auditioned for the role was turned down because he towered over his fellow cast members. Winkler, however, did not have that problem since he is just five feet and six inches tall.

Executives at ABC were reportedly determined that Fonzie would not be a stereotypical character, so they insisted he couldn’t wear his signature leather jacket unless he was near a motorcycle.

“[Producer Garry Marshall] went back and said to the writers, ‘Never write a scene without his motorcycle again,’” Winkler remembered. “So I always stood next to my motorcycle — inside, outside, in my apartment, in Arnold’s. Didn’t matter where, I was always with my motorcycle. And that’s how I got out of the golf jacket and into leather.”

Though Fonzie is a fun character, Winkler said that he used his “underlying anger” to play him. He explained to the Television Academy Foundation that he grew up with dyslexia, but he wasn’t diagnosed until he was 31, meaning he was in the dark about it throughout his childhood and early adulthood.

“I bought into the fact that I was stupid,” Winkler said of his upbringing. “My parents called me stupid. My teacher … she called me stupid. You take it along with you.”

“I think there was also a tremendous underlying anger,” Winkler added. “There were so many people who tried to be the Fonz. And they forget the undercurrent that was underneath it. It was probably the anger that I had that I didn’t have any idea how to express for being called stupid and being grounded and whatever it is. Just all that cauldron in there.”

In the end, Winkler has nothing but fond memories of his time on “Happy Days.”

“I never did not appreciate what the Fonz gave me, what he was, how much fun he was to play, who I got to meet, where I got to travel because I was on that show,” Winkler told the Los Angeles Times, adding that Marshall, who created the show, was a “gift” in his life.