Stage-trained actor Henry Winkler gained international prominence as the lovable rebel Arthur 'Fonzie' Fonzarelli a.k.a. 'The Fonz' on the long-running 1950s nostalgia series, "Happy Days" (ABC, 1974-84). The dark-haired player made his film debut in "Crazy Joe" (1973) but was more memorable in the following year's "Lords of Flatbush", another 1950s-set piece where he first donned the leather jacket that would become a Fonzie signature. As 'The Fonz', Winkler enjoyed a level of stardom rarely achieved in contemporary network TV. A major icon of popular culture from the mid-70s through the early 80s, he even presented the character's leather jacket to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. Rather than futilely attempting to escape the kind of role that made him famous, Winkler focused his post-"Happy Days" attentions behind the camera, becoming active as a producer and director in TV and features.
Much of Winkler's work has reflected his concern for children. The National Spokesperson for United Friends of the Children (in addition to involvement in other groups championing youth), he hosted and served as executive producer of the acclaimed Oscar-winning documentary "Who Are the DeBolts--And Where Did They Get 19 Kids?" and directed and executive produced the Daytime Emmy-winning "All the Kids Do It" (1984), a "CBS Schoolbreak Special". Winkler also co-produced and hosted the video "Strong Kids, Safe Kids" (1984), produced the animated special "Happily Ever After" (PBS, 1985), which explored how a child coped with the divorce of her parents and the subsequent "Two Daddies?" (PBS, 1989) where a child deals with her mother's remarriage. He was executive producer for the "ABC Family Theater" presentation "A Family Again" (1988) and produced family concerned projects like "Nobody's Children" (USA Network, 1994) and "A Child is Missing" (CBS, 1995). At the height of his Fonz stardom, Winkler starred in the ABC educational special "Henry Winkler Meets William Shakespeare", relating the Bard's works to a young audience, and he has support to champion youth-aimed projects, producing the intelligent Disney Channel sci-fi series "So Weird", featuring a sharp, computer-savvy young female protagonist.
After honing his craft on TV with credits including the ABC holiday special "A Smoky Mountain Christmas" (1986) and episodes of "Happy Days"-spin-off "Joanie Loves Chachi" (ABC, 1982-1983) Winkler made his feature directorial debut with "Memories of Me" (1988), a somewhat mawkish comedy-drama about a stormy father-son relationship that cast Alan King and Billy Crystal in the main roles. He would not return to feature directing until "Cop and a Half" (1993), a likable box office flop starring Burt Reynolds and Norman D Golden II. Of the series that he has overseen as executive producer, the popular, long-running adventure show, "MacGyver" (1985-92), starring Richard Dean Anderson, achieved the greatest success. In features, Winkler executive produced Rob Reiner's road romance, "The Sure Thing" and produced "Young Sherlock Holmes" (both 1985), Barry Levinson's highly Spielbergian teen adventure.
As "Happy Days" has slipped further into the past, Winkler has acted more. Though his appearance in the black comedy "Night Shift" (1983), directed by "Happy Days" co-star Ron Howard, was the true non-Fonzie anomaly of the 80s, the 90s have seen him in such TV-movies as "Absolute Strangers" (CBS, 1991), "The Only Way Out" (ABC, 1993), "Truman Capote's One Christmas" (NBC, 1994) and "Detention: Siege at Johnson High" (ABC, 1997). He returned to series TV as the star of the short-lived sitcom "Monty" (Fox, 1994), playing a right-wing TV host, and portrayed reluctant hero Leo Sunshine on an episode of Showtime's "Dead Man's Gun" (1997), a series he also executive produced.
Winkler continued to work in television on both sides of the camera through the 1990s and into the new millennium. He helmed episodes of the sitcoms "Dave's World" (CBS, 1995), "Clueless" (UPN, 1997) and "Sabrina, the Teenaged Witch" (ABC, 2000) and impressed with a guest dramatic role as a dentist accused of murder on "The Practice." Displaying a powerful dramatic ability he's not often associated with, Winkler was honored with an Emmy nomination for his 1999-2000 recurring turn on the ABC legal drama. He also enjoyed a recurring stint on "Third Watch" in 2004. As a producer, Winkler kept many irons in the fire, with a host of television projects in development at any given time, including the feature films "The Sure Thing" and "Young Sherlock Holmes" (both 1985), the television series "MacGuyver," "Mr. Sunshine," "Sightings," "Dead Man's Gun" and "So Weird," revivals of "Hollywood Squares" and "Unsolved Mysteries" and reunion specials for classic series like "Happy Days," "Dallas" and "Knots Landing."
In his first feature role since "Night Shift", Winkler scored big as the doomed Principal Himbry in Wes Craven's horror hit "Scream" (1996). He followed up this success with a co-starring role as the football coach who discovers the latent talent of "The Waterboy" in the surprise hit Adam Sandler vehicle. That same year he played a bullying boss in the children's feature "P.U.N.K.S", while 1999 saw him take roles in the mockumentary "Dill Scallion" and the direct-to-video drama "Ground Control" as well as his return to the stage in Neil Simon's "The Dinner Party" (reprised on Broadway in 2000). In 2000, Winkler was cast as Freddie Prinze Jr.'s TV chef father in the romance "Down to You" and reteamed with Sandler, playing himself with a cameo role in the supernatural comedy "Little Nicky." In 2003, Winkler had a supporting role as Shia LaBeouf's father in the popular family film "Holes," and returned to series television with a recurring role on the acclaimed Fox sitcom "Arrested Development" as the Bluth family's extraordinarily incompetent attorney Barry Zuckerkorn. After a turn as Tom Arnold's agent in the comic's film "The Kid and I" (2005), Winkler found sitcom success again, some two decades after hanging up the Fonz's leather jacket, on the critically admired "Out of Practice" (CBS, 2005 - ), playing Dr. Stewart Barnes, a newly divorced patriarch of a dysfunctional, neurotic clan of doctors who risks being the punchline of a middle-age crisis joke by dating his sexy but dim receptionist (Jennifer Tilly), much to his ex's (Stockard Channing) chagrin. Winkler's ability to play the character as endearing rather than leering was a key component of the show's success.