Best known for his role as auto mechanic Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on the popular sitcom Happy Days, which aired from 1974 to 1984, American actor Henry Franklin Winkler has voiced characters for South Park in 1998, The Simpsons in 1999, and Clifford the Red Dog in 2003.

He was born on October 20, 1945, in Manhattan, New York, to parents Harry Irving and Ilse Anna Maria Winkler who were German holocaust survivors. The couple moved to the United States in 1939 where his father eventually became the president of an international lumber company.

Winkler was not academically gifted all through elementary school and high school. His problems in school were later attributed to dyslexia, which he learned to manage well enough to receive a bachelor’s degree from Emerson College in 1967 and a master of fine arts degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1970. He later received a Ph.D. in Hebrew literature in 1978 from Emerson College.

His parents originally expected him to work at the lumber company, but Winkler had a love of acting that started at a very young age. In eighth grade he acted publicly for the first time in the lead role in a school play called Billy Budd.

During and after university Winkler appeared in a number of television commercials. In 1974 he landed a role as a gang member in The Lords of Flatbush, which also starred a then-unknown Sylvester Stallone. The same year he landed the role of Fonzie on Happy Days. In 1978 he rejected the role of Danny in Grease because he was afraid of being typecast as a mechanic after his famous role of Fonzie. In 1979 he was one of the hosts for the Music for UNICEF Concert.

After his role in Happy Days was finished in 1984, Winkler focused on producing and directing. He produced several television shows including MacGyver; several game show such as Wintuition and The Hollywood Squares (only from 2002 to 2004); and several movies including 1988’s Memories of Me starring Billy Crystal, and Cop and ½ in 1993 with Burt Reynolds.

In the 1990s, Winkler returned to acting while still producing, and even had an unaccredited role as a high school principal in Wes Craven’s Scream in 1996. He played the football coach in The Waterboy in 1998 with Adam Sandler, and also appeared in two other Adam Sandler movies: Little Nicky in 2000 and Click in 2006.

From 2003 to 2005 he played incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn for fifteen episodes in the Fox television comedy Arrested Development.

In 2003, Winkler co-authored a series of children's books with Lin Oliver. The series called Hank Zipzer: The Mostly True Confessions of the World's Best Under-Achiever are based on his early struggles with dyslexia.

In 2006 Winkler appeared in his first pantomime at New Wimbledon Theater as Captain Hook in Peter Pan. The part was originally given to David Hasselhoff, but he pulled out when Simon Cowell offered him a television role.

He has been married to Stacey Weitzman since 1978 and the couple has three children. Winkler and his wife co-founded the Children’s Action Network (CAN) in 1990, which provides free immunizations to more than 200,000 children.

YUDDY