Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond

Henry Winkler (b. 1945) grew up in Manhattan, New York, and attended McBurney School for Boys as a child. He graduated from Emerson College with a Bachelor of Arts in theater. He then attended Yale School of Drama, where he received his MFA in 1970. After stage acting, he moved to Los Angeles to try screen acting, eventually landing the role of Arthur “the Fonz/Fonzie” Fonzarelli on the sitcom Happy Days. After the show ended, he acted, directed, and produced.

Winkler was encouraged to write children’s books based on his childhood struggles with dyslexia. With the help of Lin Oliver, the co-founder of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Winkler wrote 18 books in the Hank Zipzer series, which were published from 2003 to 2010, with one being published in 2015. The books were adapted into a television series by the CBBC channel. He also wrote other series, including the Ghost Buddy series from 2012 to 2013, the Here’s Hank series from 2014 to 2019, the Alien Superstar series from 2019 to 2021, and the ongoing Detective Duck series, started in 2023.

Winkler has stated that he has received responses from countless students and people who were helped and felt seen when they read his Hank Zipzer books. One man told him: “I’ve read every one of your books. They got me through school” (154). Winkler regarded this as “one of the greatest compliments of my life” (154). In addition to his fiction books, he has written three nonfiction books: The Other Side of Henry Winkler: My Story (1976), I’ve Never Met an Idiot on the River: Reflections on Family, Photography and Fly-Fishing (2011), and Being Henry: the Fonz … and Beyond (2023).