Actor and screenwriter Sylvester Stallone remembers arriving in Los Angeles with his wife, little money and no place to stay — but he did have Henry Winkler’s phone number.
“Like a god-send, he showed up a little while later and was nice enough to direct us to a motel that we could afford for maybe two nights,” Stallone wrote in The Steps: A Memoir, according to PEOPLE.
Years before ROCKY made him a household name, Stallone needed something much simpler than a big break: somewhere affordable to sleep. His recollection gives credit to a friend who answered the call before Stallone had much to offer in return.
The story appears in his new memoir, released Sept. 29, according to publisher Hachette’s listing. PEOPLE followed the friendship from a shared acting job to an uncertain start in California.
Stallone and Winkler met while working on THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH, PEOPLE reported. Their backgrounds differed, but Stallone recalled an easy connection with the actor who would become known as the Fonz on HAPPY DAYS.
Winkler saw the struggle up close. According to the memoir passages PEOPLE described, he visited Stallone’s modest apartment and saw the screenplays his friend hoped would help him build a career.
Related: Sylvester Stallone Has No Regrets Ditching LA for Florida: ‘I Love It’
Later, Stallone and his then-wife, Sasha Czack, drove across the country to California. By the time they arrived, Winkler had established himself on HAPPY DAYS, while Stallone still needed to figure out where they could live.
Stallone remembered reaching Hollywood and Vine without knowing what to do next. He called Winkler even though they had not spoken in more than a year, PEOPLE reported.
The help went beyond directions to a motel. Winkler also shared stories about his own early Hollywood difficulties, giving Stallone encouragement at a moment when his new life looked far from certain.
Money remained tight after the brief motel stay. Stallone had barely $500 left from the $830 they had brought from New York.
Winkler directed the couple toward the San Fernando Valley, where they found a small rental in Encino for $300 a month. Stallone describes a home of roughly 500 square feet, without air-conditioning or a lawn — hardly a star’s address, but a place to start.
A separate, authorized memoir excerpt published by CBS News described the frustration that eventually helped him develop ROCKY. Struggling for an idea, Stallone began thinking about people who wanted a chance to prove themselves but could not seem to get one.
“I believed that the most frustrating aspect of my life was really easy to identify: It was not having an opportunity,” he wrote in the excerpt.
Hollywood eventually made room for him. The Hollywood Walk of Fame recorded his star ceremony on June 14, 1984, at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard.
But this recollection looks back before the recognition, to a phone call and an affordable motel. Winkler could not hand his friend an entire career; he could help him find somewhere to stay and remind him that struggling did not mean he was alone.
Read Next: Henry Winkler Asks: Did I Use my God-Given Talents the Right Way?
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