Henry Winkler

There is a thread going about the dedication of the Fonz statue here. As stated in that thread, the cast of Happy Days was in Milwaukee yesterday for the dedication.

Today, on my flight from Milwaukee to Detroit, Henry Winkler was a passenger as well. I must say that I was completely impressed with how gracious and laid back he was at the airport. He did not ask for special treatment or anything (but of course they upgraded him to First Class and put him on the plane ahead of everyone else). One kid came up and asked for an autograph and a gentleman wanted a picture of the two of them. He smiled, gently did what was asked of him, and through it all seemed very sincere.

In Detroit, I overheard him ask someone about whether the tram would take him to the baggage area. Again, very low key & very polite. Even while waiting for the tram, when a kid yelled “OH MY GOD - IT’S THE FONZ!”, he just smiled and nodded. (Of course, the crowd all turned and looked at that point and I heard a woman say to her husband “it really IS the Fonz”.)

I am not really one to be star struck or anything. I just could not help but be impressed.

Strange to think that what seems like such a unique experience to us, has been constantly happening to him for like 30 years

I had to deliver a gift basket to his house once.
He answered the door himself and thanked and thanked and thanked me as if the gift was a gift from me personally, or that I had done him a huge personal favor by bringing it to his house- as if I wasn’t just a guy just doing a job I was getting paid for.

Maybe you should have checked out the basket closer. Like Mitch Hedberg said, “I love the FedEx guy. He doesn’t know he’s a drug dealer.” :slight_smile:

I think that a lot about famous people. Everywhere they go, at every step, people are seeing them for maybe the first time in real life and are looking at them, and considering whether to talk to them - and yet all they want to do is pick up their dry cleaning. For all the regular people, it’s a couple of minutes in their life encountering a famous person, but for the famous person it’s all day every day.

Yeah, I heard an interview from 2003 in which he seemed genuinely surprised that people would get him to sign stuff just to sell on eBay. Sounds like he hasn’t changed much.

Oh, yes. He’s very good.

:wink:

Get it?

Met him in Okinawa when he and some of the cast of “Happy Days” were touring with a softball team playing other teams for charity. Poor guy stood out with hundreds of Marines, signing autographs and posing for one Polaroid after another for a couple hours, and never lost his graciousness and sense of humor.

Tops in my book of celebrities I have met (well, co-tops with Tommy Kirk, truly one of the world’s nicest guys also).

Sir Rhosis