The 'Rocky' franchise may have never existed without Henry Winkler

Henry Winkler was friends with Sylvester Stallone before he became Rocky Balboa.

And if not for Winkler, it turns out, Stallone may not have ever made the beloved boxing underdog iconic worldwide.

The 75-year-old Happy Days legend explained the backstory of how Rocky came to be on Wednesday night's (June 23) The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon :

"When he first arrived in California, in Los Angeles, his car broke down on Sunset Boulevard. And he called me up, and he said, 'I don't know what to do.' So, I went and picked him up, his wife at the time, and their big bullmastiff, and I put them all in my car—all of his things—moved him into his apartment.

[...]

"He then gave me a script, and I took it to ABC. I was working on Happy Days at that time, and they liked the script, and I sold them the script. And I called Sly, I said, 'We sold the script!' Then ABC called and said, 'We want to change the writer.' I then call Sly. I said, 'Sly, we sold the script; they want a new writer.' He said, 'Henry, don't let them do this to me!' I said, alright, absolutely. I went back to ABC. I said, 'I know this is strange. Here's the money. I need the script back.' They said, 'We don't do that.' I said, 'This time, I'm beginning, please, here's the money. Give me the script.' I got the script back. I gave it to Sly. ... And a year later, it turned out to be Rocky."