Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American Golden Globe Award winning actor, director, producer, and author.

Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the popular 1970s American sitcom, Happy Days. "The Fonz", a leather-clad greaser and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character at the show's beginning, but had achieved top billing by the time the show ended.

Personal life

Winkler was born in Manhattan, New York, the son of Ilse Anna Maria (née Hadra) and Harry Irving Winkler, a lumber company executive. Winkler's Jewish parents emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1939, before the beginning of World War II. Winkler attended the McBurney School and received his bachelor's degree from Emerson College in 1967 and his MFA from the Yale School of Drama in 1970. In 1978, Emerson gave Winkler an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Winkler has also received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Austin College.

Winkler has been married to Stacey Weitzman since May 5, 1978, and they have two children, Zoe and Max, and a stepson Jed from Stacey's previous marriage with Howard Weitzman. Winkler's cousin, Richard Belzer, is also an actor.

Charitable works which he is involved with include Annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon, the Epilepsy Foundation, the annual Toys for Tots campaign, the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped, and the Special Olympics.

Career

Winkler started acting by appearing in a number of television commercials. In October 1973, he was cast for the role of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli (usually nicknamed The Fonz or Fonzie) in the TV show Happy Days. The show was first aired in January 1974. During his decade on Happy Days, Winkler also starred in a number of movies, including The Lords of Flatbush (1974), playing a troubled Vietnam veteran in Heroes (1977), The One and Only (1978), and a morgue attendant in Night Shift (1982), which was directed by Happy Days co-star Ron Howard. Winkler was also one of the hosts of the 1979 Music for UNICEF Concert.

For Happy Days, director/producer Garry Marshall originally had in mind a completely opposite physical presence. Marshall sought to cast an Italian model-type male in the role of Fonzie, intended as a stupid foil to the real star, Ron Howard. However, when Winkler, a Yale MFA student, interpreted the role in auditions, Marshall immediately snapped him up. According to Winkler, "The Fonz was everybody I wasn't. He was everybody I wanted to be."

Winkler's character, though remaining very much a rough-hewn outsider, gradually became the focus of the show as time passed (in particular after the departure of Ron Howard), a testament to Winkler's acting and Marshall's foresight. Another interesting note about the character was his early appearance. ABC executives did not want to see the Fonz wearing leather, thinking the character would appear to be a criminal. The first 13 episodes show Winkler wearing two different kinds of windbreaker jackets, one of which was green. As Winkler said in a TV Land interview "It's hard to look cool in a green windbreaker". Marshall argued with the executives about the jacket. In the end, a compromise was made. Winkler could only wear the leather jacket in scenes with his motorcycle, and from that point on, the Fonz was never without his motorcycle.