Henry Winkler on his career revival after the Fonz.
Co-starring role on ‘Barry’ part of a string of memorable characters
During the peak of TV’s “Happy Days” in the 1970s, Henry Winkler was one of the most recognizable human beings on the planet. His character the Fonz was definitely on the most lunch boxes, at least until “Star Wars” came around.
Four decades later, he has to be among the most humble. Sitting in a hotel in San Francisco this month to talk about his new HBO show “Barry,” Winkler volunteers that he still takes auditions, sweating out getting an acting job like everyone else.
“Here’s the truth: The executives at a studio or a network at this moment in time are young, as they should be, but they don’t know more mature actors,” Winkler says.
“A lot of actors say, ‘They can see my work on tape.’ But I say if (inperson auditioning) is what makes them comfortable, if that’s how I’m going to get the job, I’m going to be there, the first one in those metal chairs against the wall, waiting in the waiting area.”
That unpretentious approach has worked well for Winkler, who has enjoyed a career resurgence in the 21st century, with memorable roles on “Arrested Development” and “Parks and Recreation.” And at the age of 72, he may have found the best display of his talents yet — sorry Arthur Fonzarelli — playing self-serving, potty-mouth acting teacher Gene Cousineau on “Barry.” “I really care about my students’
… ability to pay in cash and on time,” Winkler says, speaking in Gene’s voice.
It’s a great character to inhabit … for a little while. “Barry” stars series co-creator and star Bill Hader as an exsoldier who is working as a hitman. An existential crisis — and a gun-for-hire job in Los Angeles — leads him to pursue work as a struggling actor.
Winkler plays Cousineau as a cruel teacher who berates his students to the point of tears and beyond, but gets effective results.
In person, Winkler is, by reputation, nothing like Cousineau. He’s delightful and gracious, as first noted by a Chronicle reporter in a 1980s interview near the end of “Happy Days.”
During a 35-minute recording for “The Big Event” podcast, he expounds on the pleasures of dog ownership, offers to mail some children books (he’s the author of the Hank Zipzer series, about a fourthgrader with a learning disability that mirror’s Winkler’s own struggles with dyslexia.)
When “Happy Days” went off the air, Winkler found himself in typecasting hell.
“I had psychic pain like you cannot believe,” Winkler says. “Because I had a dream, I just lived it beyond my wildest dream, and I did not know what I was going to do next. I was smart enough to remember the concept, if you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything.”
He worked behind the scenes through much of the 1980s and 1990s, directing movies and TV, and producing shows, including “MacGyver.” His role as Bluth family lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn on “Arrested Development” gave him a recurring character on a critically acclaimed series, and seemed to open the floodgates for comic roles, including on “Children’s Hospital” and “Parks and Recreation.”
But Winkler still didn’t think he had much of a chance when he auditioned for “Barry,” a project from Hader and “Silicon Valley” co-creator Alec Berg, even after the first reading went well. For the Cousineau character, Winkler drew from experiences in his own pre-Fonz acting career, including at the Yale School of Drama, and with acting teachers, including the legendary Stella Adler.
“Out of the corner of my eye I’m seeing I made Bill Hader, who I have watched now on ‘SNL’ for eight years, laugh,” Winkler recalls.
Four long weeks passed, and Winkler had given up hope, when Hader called him in to read some more scenes, then told him he had the part. “Barry” has been renewed for a second season, and Winkler is thrilled with the role and the show.
“There was not a ripple of drama, except for the drama on the page,” Winkler says. “So I knew we were having a wonderful time making this show. Sometimes it’s a lot of work. And sometimes it’s like you’re speeding across a lake that doesn’t have a ripple on it.”
After dutifully promoting “Barry” — repeatedly mentioning the network, night and time of the show becomes a running joke — Winkler is happy to talk about anything, never flinching when the Fonz comes up.
The memories flow when he’s shown a 1977 Chronicle article, documenting the traveling “Happy Days” softball team’s pending arrival at Candlestick Park. The odd sporting event gives Winkler a chance to pay tribute to Garry Marshall, the beloved and prolific TV producer and film director (“Pretty Woman,” “The Princess Diaries”) who died in 2016.
“Garry Marshall, bless his soul, wanted to be the owner of a team,” Winkler says. “And so he created one, and we literally became a force to be dealt with on that softball field.”
Winkler says he thinks his team won at Candlestick, with Winkler pitching, defending a five-game winning streak against a team of locals that included then-Supervisor Dianne Feinstein. Upon learning she just visited The Chronicle’s newsroom, Winkler once again turns the conversation away from himself.
“If you see her again,” he says, “I’d like her autograph.”
There are a lot of moments like that, where Winkler starts acting like a fan, instead of the star. Even when he promotes his new show (in Cousineau’s voice again), he does it as a gentleman.
“I don’t even know how to put it into words,” Winkler says. “I’m just thrilled and blessed and grateful … that I’m able to talk about ‘Barry,’ on HBO, on 10:30 on Sunday night.”