When the popularity of his “Happy Days” character, The Fonz, exploded in the 1970s, actor Henry Winkler worried he would be a one-hit wonder. Nearly 50 years later, he hasn’t stopped working.
Winkler tells PBS News Weekend’s John Yang about the advice he would give to kids going through a difficult time.
“I tell each child you are powerful. And no matter what is happening, you keep your eye on the prize of your imagination,” he said. “You keep your eye on what it is you want, without ambivalence, without doubt.”
Winkler told Yang that he draws that advice from having what he describes as an unhappy childhood. His parents, who he credits for rebuilding their lives in the U.S. after coming as immigrants from Germany, were tough on him as a kid. “They would punish me all the time for being lazy. I couldn’t watch TV, they went out. And I had to turn off the television. I had to judge it and turn it off in time. Because when those people came home, they put their hand on top of the TV. And if it was warm, I was grounded in another six weeks.”
Click the link in our bio to hear more of the conversation. This post was produced and edited by Juliet Fuisz, Yasmeen Alamiri, Timothy McPhillips, Dan Cooney and Steff Staples.
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