Henry Franklin Winkler (born October 30, 1945) is an American actor, producer, and director.
General overview Winkler grew up in New York and was a student in the Yale School of Drama. During the summers, he and his Yale classmates stayed in New Haven and opened a summer stock theater called the "New Haven Free Theater." They performed various plays including Woyzeck, and Just Add Water (improv night). He also performed in the political piece The American Pig at the Joseph Papp Public Theater for the New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City, along with classmates James Keach, James Naughton, and Jill Eikenberry.
After graduation, he joined the Yale Repertory Theatre company. During the 1970-71 season, Winkler appeared in Story Theater Repertory (October 1970) as the Rabbi in Gimpel the Fool (and also appeared in Saint Julian the Hospitaler and Olympian Games). He also appeared as the youngest son in The Revenger's Tragedy (Nov-December, 1970), Tommy's nephew in Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone? (January 1971), Young Siward in Macbeth (Feb-March 1971), Andres in Woyzeck and Play (April 1971), and Master of Ceremonies/Prow/Couple 2/Horses/Milliner in Two by Brecht and Weill: The Little Mahagonny and The Seven Deadly Sins (May–June, 1971 and January 20–29, 1972.
Winkler then moved back to New York, working in theater, television commercials, and the independent film The Lords of Flatbush (1974), with then unknown Sylvester Stallone. After a short period in Los Angeles, he won the role of Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli (on the 1974-1984 American television series Happy Days). He also portrayed Jack Dunne in Heroes (1977), Andy in the Carl Reiner film The One and Only (1978), and Chuck Lumley in Ron Howard's Night Shift (1982). In addition, he gained recognition as an executive producer for works such as MacGyver, Dead Man's Gun, the CBS Schoolbreak Special: "All the Kids Do It", Hollywood Squares, and Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
Winkler has evolved into a character actor, portraying roles such as the high school principal Arthur Himbry in Scream, Coach Klein in Adam Sandler's The Waterboy, Barry Zuckerkorn in Arrested Development, Sy Mittleman in Childrens Hospital, Dr. Saperstein in Parks and Recreation, Mr. Rock in the Hank Zipzer BBC series, Eddie R. Lawson in Royal Pains, Fritz in Monsters at Work, Uncle Joe in The French Dispatch, Al Pratt (Uncle Al) in Black Adam, and Gene Cousineau in Barry. He also appears in five Christmas films: An American Christmas Carol as Benedict Slade (1979), Katharine Hepburn's last film One Christmas as Dad (1994), The Most Wonderful Time of the Year as Uncle Ralph (2008), Mr. Rock in Hank Zipzer's Christmas Catastrophe (2016), and Grandpa Bill in All I Want for Christmas Is You (2017). In 1986, he directed Dolly Parton in A Smoky Mountain Christmas.
Film YearTitleCredited asNotesRole(s)1974Crazy JoeMannie The Lords of FlatbushButchey Weinstein 1977 HeroesJack Dunne 1978 The One and OnlyAndy Schmidt Directed by Carl Reiner 1982 Night ShiftChuck Lumley Ron Howard's second theatrical film as a director1985 Young Sherlock Holmes Producer The Sure Thing Executive producerRob Reiner's second film as a director 1988 Memories of Me Director1989 Asterix and the Big FightAsterixVoice A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.1993 Cop and a Half1996 ScreamPrincipal Arthur Himbry Uncredited1998 The Waterboy Coach Klein First film with Adam Sandler Ground ControlJohn Quinn2000 Little Nicky HimselfCameo; film with Adam Sandler Down to You Chef Ray2003 HolesStanley Yelnats III2005 BerkeleySy Sweet The Kid & IJohnny Bernstein2006 ClickTed NewmanFilm with Adam Sandler Unbeatable HaroldFullerton2007 I Could Never Be Your WomanHimself A Plumm SummerHappy Herb2008 You Don't Mess with the ZohanCameoFilm with Adam Sandler The Most Wonderful Time of the YearUncle Ralph2010 Group SexBurton2011 Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie RetrospectiveHimselfDocumentary film2012 Here Comes the BoomMarty Streb2015 Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight AttendantStanley Warner2016 Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The MovieEd Koch2017 Sandy WexlerCameoFilm with Adam SandlerAll I Want for Christmas Is YouGrandpa BillVoice2020 Scoob! Keith Pink Skies Ahead Dr. Cotton2021 On the Count of Three Dr. Brenner Extinct JepsonVoice The French Dispatch Uncle Joe Directed by Wes Anderson 2022 Scream Partygoer Cameo; Voice Family Squares Bobby Black Adam Al Pratt (Uncle Al) Cameo2025 Normal Mayor of Normal 2026 Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass Himself Rolling Loud Post-production Television