IN LOVE WITH LIFE
Happy days are here again for the kids’ book author and star of Barry.
I’m used to nominations,” says Henry Winkler. “I’m just not used to winning.” The veteran actor took home his first Primetime Emmy award in September 2018, for his portrayal of acting coach Gene Cousineau on Barry. Then he kicked off 2019 with a Critics’ Choice Award, also for his work in the acclaimed HBO series.
At 73, the former star of Happy Days is happier than ever. Winkler, who wanted nothing more than to “make it” in Hollywood from an early age, is pinching himself over how far he’s climbed, bursting with gratitude and embracing everything that comes his way.
No Plan B
Acting was it for Winkler, who was born in Manhattan; he had no backup plan. “I wanted to be an actor. I needed to be an actor. I dreamt of being an actor!” he says. But the road to success was not easy.
The son of German-Jewish immigrants, he struggled in school; he was often told he was stupid. But Winkler pushed through, eventually earning his bachelor’s degree from Emerson College and a master’s from the Yale School of Drama. It wasn’t until the age of 31, when his stepson was diagnosed with dyslexia, that he learned that he had been battling the same condition throughout the years.
Winkler’s dyslexia presented a challenge in his acting career, which he overcame by putting in extra hours studying scripts in preparation for roles. And his condition inspired him to co-create a series of children’s books that feature Hank Zipzer, a bright boy with learning challenges of his own. Here’s Hank: Everybody Is Somebody, published in January, is the final Zipzer book, but
Winkler isn’t hanging up his author hat. He’s in the process of creating a new book series.
Here Comes Fonzie
Winkler got his start in his local Manhattan theater scene and doing TV commercials before heading to Los Angeles, where he landed guest spots on The Mary Tyler Moore
Show and Rhoda. His breakthrough came in 1974 with his portrayal of the leather-clad, bad-boy, cool-cat Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli in the 1950s-era sitcom Happy Days, which ran from 1974 to 1984.
Initially a supporting player on the show, Fonzie rapidly surpassed the other characters (played by ostensibly bigger stars, including Ron Howard, Anson Williams, Tom Bosley and Marion Ross) in popularity. In 1999, TV Guide ranked Fonzie fourth on its list of greatest TV characters of all time (behind Taxi’s Louie De Palma, The
Honeymooners’ Ed Norton and I Love Lucy’s
Lucy Ricardo).
Being “the Fonz” forever changed Winkler. “He was so much fun to play. He introduced me to the world,” he says. Winkler vowed to use the role as a springboard to a lifetime of following his passion. “I was 27 and I saw my career as a pine tree, a little sapling. My job was to water it so it would grow tall and strong,” he recalls.
Winkler doesn’t quite know what made the Fonz so beloved, but he is eternally grateful for his mass appeal. “I’m delighted that it touched so many people,” he says. Thirty-five years later, he’s still proud to be associated with the Fonz and Happy Days.
But he laughs at having his name forever attached to “jumping the shark.” In a 1977 Happy Days episode, a water-skiing Fonzie literally jumped over a shark. The phrase came to mean the moment a oncepopular TV series turns to stunts to get attention.
“Every time newspapers mentioned ‘jump the shark,’ they ran a picture of Fonzie water-skiing. At that time, I had great legs, so I didn’t care,” he says with a chuckle.
Winkler went on to hold a number of prestigious roles. Some of his favorites include defense attorney Barry Zuckerkorn on
Arrested Development and Parks and Recreation’s obstetrician Dr. Lu Saperstein. “I have been blessed to work with brilliant human beings,” he says, mentioning that one of the greatest career compliments was being asked by Adam Sandler to play his father in the movie Click. “He’s now a wonderful friend and he gives great hugs,” Winkler says.
In 2018, Winkler began costarring as acting coach Gene Cousineau on Barry. The hit HBO series stars Bill Hader as a hit man from the Midwest who goes to Los Angeles for a job and decides he’d much rather become an actor. “[Producer-writer] Alec [Berg] and Bill said they saw Gene as a darker, meaner guy, but as I played him, they went, ‘Oh, he could also have that, a more humane dimension.’ ”
In 2018, Barry earned Winkler his first Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, an accolade he’d waited for since his first nomination,