For a generation of TV lovers, The Fonz was the coolest dude around. With the motorcycle, leather jacket and ability to turn on the jukebox with a quick bop, the dude had it all. But Henry Winkler feared he would be typecast as The Fonz, never getting the meatier roles he also desired.

Reminiscing with his wife Stacey Weitzman, Henry Winkler said of his struggle with The Fonz, “I was panicked at the time about being typecast, so I would do nothing Fonzie off of the show. I was Henry, and that was my character.”

But this didn’t always hold for Winkler, who even challenged his future stepson for calling him The Fonz. As Weitzman put it, “We went to the movies, and maybe it was because I said to [my son Jed], ‘Guess who I’m going out with?’ and it was his birthday cake person, he opened the front door and said, ‘Fonzie!’ And Henry — who was, at the time, extremely serious — [said] ‘What did you say, honey?’” Winkler added, “[Jed] opened the door, I looked down at this little guy [who said], ‘Fonzie!’ I said, ‘My name is Henry. Would you like it if I called you ‘Ralph’?’”

Winkler would face different challenges on the set of Happy Days, as it was here that he truly struggled with dyslexia. But The Fonz as a character would come in handy for Winkler at a different time, once recounting a time he channeled his cool demeanor when helping a suicidal aspiring actor while dressed in Fonzie’s trademark digs.

Despite a reluctance to be typecast as The Fonz, Henry Winkler would reprise the character several times in his post-Happy Days career, turning up in spinoffs Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy and Joanie Loves Chachi, as well as animated series The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang. Winkler would win two Golden Globes for Happy Days and be nominated three times for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy. He would win much later in the supporting category for Barry…but we don’t see any Gene Cousineau lunchboxes in the cafeteria!

Outside of The Fonz, which Henry Winkler performance stands out for you?

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