George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope hit theaters in 1977, capturing the imaginations of people across the globe and launching a renewed interest in science fiction. Gary Marshall, producer of the hit show Happy Days, was looking to keep the series fresh in its fifth season, so he listened to his son—a huge Star Wars fan—who asked if there could be an alien on the show. The show’s cast wasn’t too excited about the bizarre episode, which centered on an alien, Mork from the planet Ork, who landed on Earth in an attempt to bring Richie Cunningham back to his home planet. “It really wasn’t a very good script. It was the worst script we ever had,” Anson Williams, who played Potsie Weber on the show, later recalled. The actor originally cast as Mork quit just two days before filming, leaving the crew scrambling to find another alien. Al Molinaro, who played diner owner Al Delvecchio on the show, suggested Robin Williams, an actor from his improv class. Williams was brought in to read for the role, and his surprising take on the alien would launch him into superstardom. Williams made an incredibly unexpected choice during the audition—one that could have jeopardized his chances of securing the role. When Marshall asked Williams to take a seat, he turned upside down, with his head in the chair and his butt in the air. “He did the whole audition standing on his head,” Marshall said, according to Parade. “He was a whole different, fresh view of a guy doing an outer-space alien.” The producer gave Williams the role, explaining that “he was the only alien to audition.” “When Robin Williams came on as a Martian, he was all over the place and was improvising some, and they gave him room,” Marshall recalled. “At the end of the episode, 300 people in the audience stood up and applauded, which is not usually done. It didn’t take a genius to know he could do his own show, and we made one for him, Mork & Mindy.” During rehearsals, the rest of the cast gave Williams room to improvise, and he quickly created the unique Mork character with his “Na-Nu-Na-Nu” greeting and Star Trek-esque handshake. The episode, “My Favorite Orkan,” which originally aired on Feb. 28, 1978, would go on to become one of the most memorable in the series. “It was one of the best shows in the history of the series,” Anson Williams recalled. Robin Williams’ performance as the character was so memorable that Paramount rushed an entire show based on the alien, Mork & Mindy, which debuted on Sept. 14, 1978. The Mork character was also invited back on Happy Days the following year for a follow-up episode, “Mork Returns.” Mork & Mindy initially surpassed Happy Days in the ratings before experiencing a sharp decline over the next three seasons. In the final season, Mork and Mindy had an Orkan baby, played by Jonathan Winters, who aged backward. By the final episodes in 1982, Williams had become a bona fide movie star, having starred in Popeye and The World According to Garp. Williams was such an incredible talent that one audition—where he stood on his head—probably wasn’t the sole reason for his incredible success. But it is a great example of how extraordinary talent expresses itself in ways most people can’t fathom. Kudos to Gary Marshall and the producers of Happy Days for embracing his lunacy instead of laughing Williams out of the studio, and for giving him the space to explode into America’s living rooms. The post Robin Williams landed his breakout ‘Happy Days’ role after literally flipping the audition on its head appeared first on Upworthy.