Henry Winkler on Barry and playing the Fonz

Henry Winkler, in Barry. "I have defined cool for myself, I know what cool is. It is being authentic."

Lowdown:
Barry: starring Bill Hader and Henry Winkler.
Barry Season 2 is on SoHo2 from April 3. Also screening same day on NEON.
AN EPISODE WITH ... Henry Winkler

By Michele Manelis

I hope you'll forgive me for saying but you've been around for some time now. How has television changed since you started?

There is no difference. You must have the human being, you must have the imagination, you must have the actors, you have to have the crew who work for 14 hours, 15 hours a day - AND with a smile on their face. The only difference is the technology. When I was starting out, there were three networks. You watched television in your living room or, if you were lucky enough, in your bedroom but mostly you saw TV all together as a family.

How do you look back on Henry Winkler from the era of Happy Days to now?

When I started on Happy Days, I saw myself as a forest ranger. And I planted my career a little sapling and I wanted it to grow to be tall and strong so that I could do this until I literally couldn't do it anymore. And I had a vision at 27, that's when I got the Fonz, I was the oldest teenager in captivity. I had a vision of who I wanted to be as an actor, I just couldn't get there. Now at 73, through Barry, I am able to taste some of what I envisioned at 27.

Was there a time in your life when you realised, "I've arrived"?

So I had a dream. I was 7 years old, lying in my bed, my parents were short Germans, they did not want me to be an actor, they wanted me to sell wood, but the only wood I was interested in was Hollywood. It's true. I never let the dream out of my mind. And I got to play The Fonz for 10 years. When The Fonz was done, I never had a plan B, I didn't know. Now I have lived my dream, now I have lived it bigger than I ever imagined.

Henry Winkler as The Fonz and Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham in the hit series, Happy Days.

What was life like after playing The Fonz?

I did not have a vision of what I was going to do next. I was physically in pain. It literally hurt my head and I would put my feet up on the desk and what I was smart enough to realise was that if you don't know what to do, don't do anything, it will eventually come. I thought, "Maybe I am done." At the time, as the Fonz, I got 55,000 letters a week. I thought, 'I am going to beat the system.' And for the next eight or nine years I really couldn't get hired because they said, "He is so great, he is so funny, he was The Fonz."
How did you get through that time?
I live by two words: "Will" and "Gratitude." And if you don't have will, if you don't have a clear vision without ambivalence, you can just kiss whatever it is goodbye. Now years later, I won the Emmy for Barry. When I won my first Emmy (in 1976), I quoted my lawyer, who said to me, "You sit at the table long enough, the chips will come to you." And I will tell you, I have stacks in front of me now. I am having a great time.
Besides acting, what else do you love to do?
I have written 34 novels for children, they are in seven or nine languages and they were just converted to Braille. They are about me as a little boy who struggles with everything. His glass is half full, but he just spills it everywhere.
What of your achievements are you most proud of?
What I am proudest of, outside of my family, are the books that I have written.
Why?
I had believed I really was as stupid as everyone told me I was. And I have written 34 novels with my partner and I cannot believe it.

Henry Winkler, who won an Emmy for his role in Barry. The second series is out in April.

Any regrets?
Nope, I don't have one regret. It is so complicated being a human being on Earth, with all the ups and downs and all of the imperfections that I am as a person. I am loving that I am on the Earth to tell you the truth.
Has it ever been difficult to deal with fame?
Maybe because of my dyslexia I thought in this way - people would talk to me like I could walk on water, because I was on television playing this character they liked. But because of the way I felt about myself, I couldn't imagine why they were talking to me. So I understood that intellectually it was pragmatic that they liked what I did, because the show kept going. But emotionally, I had no relationship to what they were saying.
The Fonz was the epitome of cool – how would you define cool?
I have defined cool for myself, I know what cool is. It is being authentic. If you are authentic, you will be a magnet. You don't need a machine. It's true.
Where is your leather jacket?
In the Smithsonian Museum.