Conversations with...Henry Winkler
Since reposting my Bob Newhart chat was a hit, here's another favorite chat with the guy who brought the Fonz and Gene Cousineau (among others) to life.
First up, a reminder that the July promotion ends on July 31 so act now to get an annual paid subscription at 20% off. Details at the bottom of this post!
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You know that saying about never meeting your heroes? Don’t believe it because if I had stuck to that advice when I started working as an entertainment journalist over fifteen years ago, I would have missed out on some wonderful conversations over the years.
Recently I posted a 2018 interview with Bob Newhart (who died earlier this month at the age of 94) and heard from a lot of you that you’d love to hear more old interviews I have done as well as new ones (Substack has been nudging me to start a Spotify podcast that would be linked to Coffee TV & Me so maybe that time is near?). The first one that came to mind was one of my favorite conversations with Henry Winkler that happened (also in 2018) just before he won his first Emmy award in the Best Supporting Actor category for HBO’s dark comedy Barry.
I had talked to Henry a few times before but I never lost that inner TV geek who was very aware that I was talking to the guy who brought Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli to life. I grew up watching on Happy Days in the 1970s and into the early 1980s when you had to be home whenever your favorite show was airing (VCRs, DVRs and the smorgasbord of streaming hadn’t arrived yet). Of course, Winkler talked about those days right after Happy Days ended and how he wasn’t sure he’d work again since he was so closely associated with Fonzie. However, after some television producing (fun fact: he was one of the EPs on the original and reboot of MacGyver!) Henry popped up in big screen roles in Scream and on TV in series like Parks and Recreation and Arrested Development proving he definitely would never be called a one-hit wonder in terms of great roles.
In fact, generally known for comedy, his role as acting teacher Gene Cousineau on Barry showed the comedy chops we already knew were there but also how adept Winkler was at drama since Cousineau was put through the wringer physically and emotionally on Barry.
The following conversation took place in August 2018 during the Television Critics Association press tour at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Henry wasn’t there to promote a show but he kindly came in to join the TV Guide Magazine photo studio and then talk for the podcast and I’d also grab quotes from that chat for a pre-Emmy piece in the magazine.
In fact, a fun story before you dive into the podcast episode, when Henry was there to take some photos, we had another TV show cast in the photo room at the time of his arrival and he graciously said he was fine waiting a few minutes. Just then, because it happened to be Fox’s TCA day, the cast of the medical drama The Resident were there and as they were passing by, Henry (who I knew was a big TV fan himself) ran over to them and introduced himself to stars Matt Czuchry and Bruce Greenwood.
We had been talking at the magazine about pairing actors to talk about their careers and the light bulb went off to pair Henry with Matt Czuchry, which we were able to (finally) pull off at the following summer’s TCA (since we needed them to get together so we could also get photos). I sat in the room with Henry and Matt as they talked and it was just wonderful. You can read that conversation as it appeared in TV Guide Magazine right here.
In other words, if you haven’t guessed, Henry Winkler is a gem to interview no matter what. Here’s the podcast episode from the fall of 2018. My interview with Henry is in the first 15 min of this podcast episode. Enjoy!
Also, Henry’s memoir came out last fall and it’s a wonderful read that explores his growing up, early days breaking into the business (including his early role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show!) and his ups and downs personally and professionally along the way. You can buy it here if you want to know about this lovely man.
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Until next time….