Henry Winkler received the honor of a lifetime. On Aug. 18, the beloved Happy Days actor was inducted into the 27th Television Academy Hall of Fame alongside Viola Davis, Ryan Murphy, Conan O’Brien, and Mike Post, per Gold Derby.
Winkler, who turns 80 years old on Oct. 30, was introduced onstage by AFI Board of Directors chair Bob Daly. The induction ceremony took place at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles during the Televerse Festival.
Henry Winkler Said He’s Living His Dream
Winkler’s career has spanned decades. In the 1970s, he shot to fame as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on Happy Days. The character was so popular that producers considered changing the show’s name to Fonzie’s Happy Days.
After 10 years as Fonzie, Winkler moved on to big-screen films such as Night Shift and The Water Boy. On TV, he won an Emmy for the starring role in HBO’s Barry and appeared in recurring roles in Arrested Development and Parks and Recreation. He also served as a director on shows such as MacGyver, as well as the new History Channel series, Hazardous History with Henry Winkler, which he also hosts, per IMDB.
But the star’s career was almost cut short by his mom.
In his Television Academy speech, Winkler said. “I was eight years old, I was in bed in New York …and I would lie in bed and I would dream, I would will myself to be an actor. And my mother, a very short German person, came in with a hairbrush … and said, ‘You’re too young to dream.’”
“I never let the dream out of my mind,” he added. “And then I failed my way right through high school.”
Winkler, who has since been diagnosed with dyslexia, noted that he took the same high school geometry course for four years before finally passing it. He was ultimately accepted into Emerson College, the one school out of 28 that he applied to. He then went on to the Yale School of Drama.
Two weeks after moving to Los Angeles in 1973, Winkler landed the audition for Happy Days. When he was told to comb his hair during the scene, he went over to the mirror, pulled his comb out of his pocket, and then stopped. “Hey, I don’t have to because it’s perfect,” he recalled saying in Fonzie’s tough guy voice.
“And that one line took me for 50 years,” Winkler said.
He added that while he had dreamed of becoming an actor and maybe even winning an award, he never thought he would end up in the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
“I’m living my dream,” the actor said. “What I am the most proud of is to be in a hall of fame for television that has been so good to me. I’m still at the table. What I want to say to you is that you’re never too young to dream!”
Following the ceremony, Winkler posted an Instagram photo as he posed with his family and loved ones. “An overwhelming night !!! Thank you, Television Academy,” the Happy Days star captioned the post.
Related: ‘Happy Days’ Star Reveals Why He Almost Quit the Show Early On
