Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond

Winkler remembers two valuable lessons he learned when he studied acting: keeping his part of the theater clean and listening. He admits to struggling with listening due to his anxiety and racing thoughts. Only later, he realized that he was giving away his power when he failed to listen, something Stacey told him frequently. He talks about the series Out of Practice with Christopher Lloyd, a series he absolutely loved working on, but that was not picked up because it didn’t appeal to the younger audiences CBS was aiming for. He says that Stacey’s last chemotherapy session, Ritter’s death, and the deaths of Stacey’s parents made the first decade of the 21st century emotionally stressful.

He talks about Max’s graduation in 2006 from USC. After, Max directed a short film called The King of Central Park starring his friend and the son of Howard and Margaret Weitzman, Armen Weitzman, Winkler, and Jeffrey Tambor—who joined the cast at Winkler’s request. The working environment was great and Max was a natural leader in film direction. Winkler concludes that being the child of a person in show business can provide advantages. However, one needs to stand on merit and prove their talent to make it.