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Anson Williams recalled fearing for his life during a scary incident with a mob of fans at the height of his “Happy Days” fame.
The 74-year-old actor starred as gullible aspiring singer Warren “Potsie” Weber on the sitcom for 11 seasons from 1974 to 1984. During an interview with Fox News Digital, Williams revealed that he had “many, many crazy” encounters with fans after “Happy Days” became a massive hit. He then recounted one particular experience that stood out in his memory.
“Yeah, almost dying comes to mind,” Williams said.
Anson Williams recalled “nearly dying” after being mobbed by fans in the late 1970s. (Getty)
He continued, “I was doing a concert at the Del Mar Racetrack [in Del Mar, California]. Like a 4th of July concert, I forgot exactly — I think it was 4th of July. And there were like thousands of people there.”
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“And I’m in the middle on this stage they rolled out,” Williams added. “Well, at the end of the concert, the crowd swarms around this [stage], and I can’t get down. I can’t get off. So, I’m up there. I must have been up there for 15 minutes.”
WATCH: ‘Happy Days’ star Anson Williams recalls terrifying encounter with fans: ‘Literally couldn’t breathe’
“And there’s security. Finally, I get down and they kind of make a pathway. Well, the crowd overwhelmed it. I ended up face-down. On the field. Literally, I couldn’t breathe,” he recalled.
Williams said the incident occurred at a concert in Del Mar, California. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“Shirt’s being torn, bleeding. My manager finally picked me up and literally dragged me and threw me into this trailer that was kind of on the edge of the part of the field there. Yeah. I mean, I literally — I literally couldn’t breathe.”
“And I’m thinking, ‘I don’t know about this fame stuff,'” he said with a laugh. “You know, might not be … the healthiest thing for your life.”
Though the experience was terrifying, Williams told Fox News Digital that his injuries weren’t severe enough that he had to go to the hospital.
“But I had scratches and like a face full of dirt,” he remembered with a laugh. “I said, ‘Maybe, I’ll go back to engineering.’ You know, this is not so nice.”
The show was set in the 1950s and featured an ensemble cast. (Bob DAmico/American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images)
Williams said he couldn’t remember the exact year in which the incident occurred, but he believed it was probably in 1976 or 1977. He also explained that it proved to be a learning experience for him.
“I learned a lot, you know, where not to place myself during a concert,” Williams said. “That I learned. Don’t go in the middle of a field surrounded by thousands of people with no way out. It’s not a very smart place to put one’s body.”
WATCH: ‘Happy Days’ star Anson Williams on how show was almost canceled before becoming a mega-hit
Set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, “Happy Days” was originally conceived to tap into the public’s nostalgia for the 1950s era amid turbulent times in the 1970s. The show followed the lives of teenager Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard), his family, including father Howard (Tom Bosley), mother Marion (Marion Ross), sister Joanie (Erin Moran) and his friends, Potsie (Williams), Ralph Malph (Donny Most) and Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler).
Upon its debut, the show was met with mixed reviews but enjoyed immediate popularity with viewers. By the time “Happy Days” began airing its fourth season, the show had become the most-watched series in the U.S.
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However, Williams recalled that the future of “Happy Days” was in jeopardy after ratings began to slip before a format change spearheaded by creator Garry Marshall and director Jerry Paris paved the way for its surge in popularity.
“Happy Days” became the most-watched show in America. (Bob DAmico/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“When we first started in ’74, it was a minor — it was a hit,” Williams said. “It was in the top 20, maybe 15 or something.”
“We came in at mid-season,” he continued. “And then the next season, it started going down to 48th place. But we’re filming it like a movie, you know, just like a normal movie. And we were on the verge of getting canceled.”
“And Garry Marshall and Jerry Paris, our director, thought, ‘What if we changed the whole tone? What if we make it a live audience sitcom?’” Williams recalled. “So, half the season, one camera. The next season, one camera. The next season — two and a half in — they switch it to live audience. And the chemistry of the cast, the writing, was magic. That’s the year we went to No. 1 in the world. That’s when we exploded.”
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“In the last 10 and a half years, that was huge,” he added. “Who knew? Who knows? But more than just being on a hit television show, it was such an education for life. I mean, we just had so many life experiences.”
Williams told Fox News Digital that Marshall tried to prepare the cast for the massive fame that they would experience due to the show’s success and advised them to use their platforms for good.
WATCH: ‘Happy Days’ star Anson Williams says he ‘learned a lot’ about handling fame after terrifying fan encounter
“Gary said, ‘You guys are young, and you’re going to have a light on you,'” he remembered. “‘You’re going to be famous and you don’t deserve it. But you are going to have a light on you. You got to take the light, and you got to shine it on people that deserve it. You got to make things better, you know? So, get out of your way and just help other people.'”
The Golden Globe nominee told Fox News Digital that the cast took Marshall’s advice to heart and aimed to help by making movies that highlighted societal issues and featured underrepresented groups of people.
“Ron Howard and I did a film called ‘Skyward,’ starring the first paraplegic ever in the history of television,” he said. “We did films like ‘No Greater Gift,’ which doubled organ donorship cards. Henry did so many social issue movies of the week and after-school school specials, and charities.”
“We really, to this day, try to shine the light to make things better,” he added.
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Williams and his wife, Sharon Scott Williams, collaborated on the new one-woman play “Crazy Mama.” (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Williams explained that helping people was also the impetus behind his latest project, “Crazy Mama,” which he created with his wife, Sharon Scott Williams.
Starring two-time Emmy Award nominee Lee Purcell, “Crazy Mama” is a one-woman play with musical accompaniment that is based on Sharon’s memoir, “Crazy Mama, A Memoir of Love and Madness.”
The book was the winner of the 2014 Southwest Writers Competition and won the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Fiction Award, per Sharon’s website. Sharon adapted her memoir into the script for the play, which Williams is directing.
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The play chronicles the “soul-crushing grip of her mother’s mental illness, the steely resilience of the human heart, and how, by the grace of some invisible power, Sharon’s dream to get her real Mama back comes true,” according to a press release.
“It’s shining a light on mental illness again in a very entertaining way that I truly know is going to help,” Williams said of “Crazy Mama. “It’s truly going to help families. It’s truly going to echo and go on and on and on and really have a positive effect on the mental illness in this country.”
“Crazy Mama” will be staged April 12-14 at the Theater of The Museum at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, New York.
Tickets for “Crazy Mama” are on sale now and can be purchased here: BethelWoodsCenter.org/CrazyMama
