Still, with hard work and determination, he was able to graduate from high school and go on to earn his B. Winkler's prime ambition in life had always been to become a professional actor, so after graduating from Yale he returned to his hometown of New York City to embark on his fledgling career. He began appearing in numerous plays during the s, and made a living by appearing in TV commercials. In one year alone Winkler appeared in over 30 ads. Winkler continued this path of working commercial actor and moonlighting theater actor for a few years in New York before landing his first big movie role.
The film was called "Lords of Flatbush" , and in it Winkler played a leather jacket wearing '50s greaser, a role that carried many similarities to Fonzie. It was in January of , when Winkler debuted the role of Fonzie on "Happy Days," that his life would forever change. Fonzie quickly became the breakout character on the hit show, which lasted for 11 seasons on ABC. Fonzie became an icon of American pop culture as the epitome of coolness. Between seasons, Winkler expanded his range by starring in films such as Vietnam veteran drama "Heroes" and wrestling comedy "The One and Only" His highest-profile film role during this period came with the comedy "Night Shift" , directed by his former "Happy Days" co-star Ron Howard, in which Winkler played a morgue attendant who begins running a prostitution ring with his new co-worker, played by Michael Keaton in his breakout role.
After "Happy Days" ended its run in Winkler began turning his attention to producing and directing. By the late 90s, however, Winkler began acting more consistently. Although Winkler had been nominated for numerous Emmy Awards in the past, this was his first win. Henry Winkler.
So when he was stopped by the Nazis, and they said, "Are you taking anything of value out of Germany? Now you can open every bag? The jewelry that he encased in chocolate he sold when he came out of Ellis Island into New York, and was able to start a new life here, slowly but surely.
I have the actual letters from the government each time my father requested to stay a little longer, and they would say yes. And I was born, and thank God, because I love our country. Heidi Saman and Thea Chaloner produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Copyright Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. Search Query Show Search. Show Search Search Query. Play Live Radio. Next Up:. Available On Air Stations. All Streams. By Terry Gross.
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email. On learning he had dyslexia at age 31 [I found out] after my stepson was tested, because he was so verbal, and he is so smart, but he couldn't do reports.
On his dyslexia now We're sitting around the table and sometimes people who sit next to me have to point out that I have dropped a line, that I just missed it on the page, and I'm sitting there thinking, "Oh my God! In a previous version of this story, the toothpaste Gleem was incorrectly spelled Gleam.
Terry Gross. It was set in the '50s, where the music was great. And my character was a tough - a tough guy who rode a motorcycle, wore a leather jacket and had a very soft heart. That he thought he was like, it, you know, that he was just like the greatest, most handsome WINKLER: I don't know that he thought he was because when he - you know, the first thing I said to the producers when they called me on my birthday in and said, would you like to play this part?
I said, hey, when he takes the leather jacket off - when he takes his jacket off, who does he have to be cool for in his apartment? If you let me show the other side, it would be my pleasure to play this character. Not - you - I would not tell Garry Marshall, rest his soul, who I thought he had to be. But I put the character on, and then they let me sew it on to my being. He co-stars in the HBO dark comedy series "Barry," which is now in its second season. After a break, we'll talk more about the Fonz.
And Henry Winkler will tell us about being the son of German Jews who got out of Germany just in time. And John Powers will talk about how "Game Of Thrones" has managed to become part of the global zeitgeist.
The final season starts Sunday. I'm Terry Gross, back with Henry Winkler, who won an Emmy for his performance as a self-important acting teacher in the HBO dark comedy series "Barry," which is now in its second season Sunday nights and was just renewed for a third.
When we left off, we were talking about the role that first made him famous as The Fonz, on the '70s sitcom "Happy Days. So your character, when he was in public and especially when he was around girls, exuded confidence - a comic confidence but confidence.
GROSS: Because of your dyslexia and because your father was always, like, punishing you and insulting you for not doing well in school So was it - what was it like for you to be this comic character who just, like, exuded confidence?
He'd snap his finger, and girls would, like, walk over to him. He was, you know But, you know, here - I got to be everybody that I wasn't. And I understood even then that the confidence I was feeling from the success of the character was cotton, and if it - God forbid - rained, the cotton would just squish into nothing. GROSS: What were some of the gestures or sounds or whatever, including the finger snap, that you came up with yourself, that weren't in the script? But then you had to figure out how to say it.
I mean, how was it spelled - A-Y-Y-Y-exclamation-point or something? So if I had attitude about being hungry, that girl was pretty, don't mess with me, let me think about it - I could use that one sound to say all of those different things.
To exemplify the kinds of things you should not say or do regarding women We're going to play a scene from "Happy Days" in which you're talking about how to deal with women. And you're talking to Richie's parents hear about that, and Richie's there, too. I'll tell you about women, all right? Now, listen; they expect the guy to make a pass. They get angry. Believe me, they expect it. But - now, this is a crucial but - let them feel that they got dumped, passed from hand to hand, unwanted, sight unseen, and you've got hurt feelings.
We are going to tell the truth, and I don't want to hear any argument. There were, like, 20 writers in the room, from year-olds to year-olds. And when we were doing this in the '70s, there was a completely different dynamic between people.
Not that it was more right; it was just different. But if - you know, I, now, when a fan comes and wants to take a picture, I ask if I can put my arm around them to take the selfie because we live in a very different time, with a very different expectation and level of respect.
So Gary Marshall, in his wisdom, went to GROSS: What's also hilarious is considering how many leather jackets and vegan leather jackets are out there now, to think that, like, the leather jacket had such power that the network was afraid of you wearing it, that is really a different time. And not only that, but of all those leather jackets, from the tiniest leather jacket that the person had when they were 3 to the new leather jacket that they are wearing now, I have signed all of them in silver.
I don't know if they're still alive or not, so I have told this story - that he took his mother's jewelry, bought a box of chocolate, melted the chocolate down, put the pieces of jewelry in the chocolate box, melted - poured the chocolate over the jewelry, put the box under his arm, so when he was stopped by the Nazis and they said, are you taking anything of value out of Germany, he said, no, you can open every bag; we've got nothing.
And the jewelry that he encased in chocolate, he sold when he came out of Ellis Island into New York and was able to start a new a new life here, slowly but surely. And I was born, and thank God, 'cause I love our country.
And he was supposed to escape with a submarine that was supposed - you know, they had a meeting place. And they - a lot of friends were going to get on this submarine and get out. And he said, no, no, no. I'm just going to stay one more day. It'll be fine. I'm having a white dinner jacket made at the tailor. And he was taken to Auschwitz. And I saw the plaque in the street that commemorated my uncle and every other Jew that was taken from Berlin. And it said his - Helmut Winkler, his date of birth, when he lived in the building the plaque was in front of and what year he was taken to Auschwitz.
They are certainly more religious than I am. I am proud of my religion. My children were all bat and bar mitzvah'd. But I'm not as traditional or keeping the tradition as my parents were. We said the prayer over the bread and the wine and the candles on Friday night. We had Shabbat dinner. My parents went to temple every week. They - my father was president of the temple. But a lot of my life was fueled by the fury of these two people who were so non-present on who I was on the Earth.
GROSS: Do you think that your parents having gotten out just in time, your uncle having died in Auschwitz, you know, the knowledge of what happened to everybody who - all the Jews who stayed behind in Germany GROSS: Do you think that that made your father more disappointed in you and in your difficulties reading and everything - because it's like, what do you have to complain about?
Why can't you be better? Look what happened in Germany. I don't know if that is true. I figure the trauma of leaving your country, losing your family, the Holocaust of what was happening in the world at that moment certainly affected the way they were.
But on the education part, the being lazy, the not living up to my potential, being a shtum hunt, which is dumb dog - I think that was in his DNA. I think that they brought that with them, with or without a war. If you're just joining us, my guest is Henry Winkler, and he now co-stars in the HBO comedy series "Barry" as an acting teacher.
We'll be right back after this break. And if you're just joining us, my guest is Henry Winkler, who got his start playing the Fonz on "Happy Days," which made him famous around the world.
He plays a hit man and acting student, and Henry Winkler plays his acting teacher. A boy named Hank who has dyslexia, as do you. And it's in a special typeface, which I thought was really interesting. And the publisher, Penguin Putnam, chose the typeface. It was the first time it was ever used in America, and I have to say I am so proud because I could have used it. It just makes the eye track so much more easily across the page for the They are more weighted at the bottom of the letter, so they sit more comfortably on the line so that they don't float.
There are so many things. He was a - he is a graphic designer, and he's dyslexic. His children are dyslexic. And when you look at the novel itself, when you look at the page, you go, I get it. It's just so much more friendly. GROSS: And it slows down - I think that slows down the speed that you have to read at because there's fewer letters and words on the page. I cannot sound words out. The word schedule is written out and taped to my computer because I use it all the time, and if it wasn't there - I cannot sound out the word or visualize spelling words.
We're sitting around the table, and sometimes they - people who sit next to me have to point out that I have dropped a line - that I just missed it on the page. And I'm sitting there thinking, oh, my God, I wonder whose line it is?
There's a big silence here. It turns out it's me. And I hate when I miss the timing or I screw another actor's timing up because I have screwed the line up so badly.
Or I have to go back again or - I hate it. Sometimes I just hate my brain. So that expression has come to mean when something has kind of ended, when its time is over. GROSS: So I want you to describe the scene in "Happy Days" where you literally water ski over a shark that's kind of confined in a lake that you're waterskiing on.
So three facts. One - my father, the short German, said to me every day for years - tell Garry Marshall that you water ski. Dad, I don't think I'm going to do that. No, no. Tell him you water ski. It's very important. I finally tell Garry, my father wants you to know I water ski. That's No. And - in East Stroudsburg, Pa.
And I loved water skiing. We water-skied on Mahopac Lake just north of New York. And I did all the water skiing except for the jump itself - which they - I don't know how to do that stunt. And they brought somebody in from Sarasota Springs, Fla. When I hit the beach at the end - when I've jumped the shark - I land on the beach, and I step out of my skis.
And I'm smiling. I'm thinking, hey, this is great. Half the smile is Henry going, oh, my God, I can't believe you just did that. And the other half is the Fonz going, all right, here I am. I did it. I'm very cool. GROSS: What was it about that scene or that episode that came to signify when something's time is up - when it's over? I don't know. To them, the Fonz water skiing was just like the last straw. The only thing is it wasn't to the audience because we were No.
So it didn't much matter to anybody. And I think I had very nice legs at that time. And we're still talking about it in I think this is all great. This is America. It was just renewed for a third season. After a break, John Powers will talk about why it caught on around the world.
Original Source. Northern California Public Media Newsletter. Get the latest updates on programs and events. Live Radio. On learning he had dyslexia at age 31 [I found out] after my stepson was tested, because he was so verbal, and he is so smart, but he couldn't do reports.
On his dyslexia now We're sitting around the table and sometimes people who sit next to me have to point out that I have dropped a line, that I just missed it on the page, and I'm sitting there thinking, "Oh my God! In a previous version of this story, the toothpaste Gleem was incorrectly spelled Gleam. Copyright Fresh Air.
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