In Hollywood, we’ve have had tough guys (Lee Marvin, Chuck Norris), funny guys (Jerry Lewis, Eddie Murphy) and then there are the cool guys, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando, and James Dean. In the 70′s, a TV show took a chance, and introduced a Biker as a friend of a character, and a legend was born. The Fonz defined cool for a generation of TV viewers and it wasn’t long before Henry Winkler was getting as much attention as the star of Happy Days, Ron Howard. His white shirt, leather jacket, and comb steadily combing his hair back unless he was looking at a mirror, then it was… heyyyyyyyyy, with a satisfied smile as if to say, was there any doubt he would look good. The show ended and the stars moved on and it appeared to many that it was the Fonz that was cool, not Mr. Winkler. But to those that thought that, they were wrong. Henry Winkler has continued to define cool in his professional and personal life. So today, on his Birthday, we’ll honor Mr Winkler with today’s list of top coolest things that he has done:

1. Played the Fonz on Happy Days, giving the show and his career a huge boost.
2. Masters of Fine Arts from Yale – An Ivy League Educated Actor as the Fonz, who knew?
3. Night Shift – One of Ron Howard’s first movies that helped launch Michael Keaton and Shelly Long’s careers. I like to think he did it because Ron was his friend, but who really knows.
4. McGyver, Mr. Winkler was an executive producer of this down to earth handy man that was a lot of fun to watch.
5. Writer – 14 books and counting about Hank Zipzer, the world’s greatest underachiever. Hank as dyslexia, which Mr. Winkler has been diagnosed with as well and his life serves as a model for the stories in this series.
6. Broadway Star – Doing 9 months of The Dinner Party, a Neil Simon comedy.
7. Director – Directing several movies including Billy Crystals “Memories of Me”
8. Charity – He is involved with several leading Children charities including Toys for Tots and the Special Olympics
9. Professional Guest Star – Arrested Development, Law and Order, King of the Hill, The Simpsons and even a few music videos
10. Guest Conductor of the Boston Pops – summer 2008 in Cape Cod. He lost no time in getting rid of those pesky sheets of paper with little dots on them and doing it, his way. It was great fun and he started his stint with a good talk on growing up with dyslexia.  

Its awfully nice to see a good actor, with a solid career, doing something nice and using his fame, and some of his fortune, to help those who need the help. While he may not have an Oscar, he does have a life sized statue of himself in Milwaukee and the undying loyalty and adulation from the kids who he has helped. Not bad for a “greaser” who was trouble. Happy Birthday Mr. Winkler!

This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 4:56 pm and is filed under 10 Best Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.