But it was as Fonzie, an Italian-American tough guy, that Winkler, a Jewish actor born in New York City to parents who came to the U.S. to avoid the Holocaust, originally made his mark. It was a role he seemed almost destined to play.

He has appeared in everything from "Parks and Recreation" to "Robot Chicken" and from "Children's Hospital" to Comedy Or Die's recent "Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie."

Looking back on the show, it's obvious what an odd — and yet oddly perfect — casting decision was made. We've seen Winkler take on roles that seem a more natural fit for him: a neurotic nice guy who somehow becomes a pimp in "Night Shift," a gentle and compassionate school principal in "Scream," a hapless football coach in "The Waterboy," etc.

For those who grew up watching "Happy Days," Henry Winkler's name forever will conjure up Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, a motorcycle-riding master of cool who went from a bit character to the series' biggest star.

"I was here in California for two weeks," he said during a recent telephone conversation. "I had just landed. I had enough money to stay for a month. I go to Paramount. I'm trained as a theater actor at Yale. I've got a master's degree. I'm not sure that doing a television series is the right thing for me.

"So I try out. I get the part, right at the end of the month when I was going to go home because my money ran out. We make the pilot. I go back to New York for Thanksgiving in 1973, and then I'm called during my vacation. ‘We've been picked up. Will you come back?' ... I had six lines and wore a McGregor windbreaker, a cloth jacket. They wouldn't let me wear leather. ABC was afraid I'd be associated with crime."

That changed, of course. As both "Happy Days" and Fonzie gathered a growing audience, Winkler found himself a leather-clad superstar (his jacket hangs in the Smithsonian) ... even though he didn't feel like one. All the praise bounced off of him, because he didn't feel good enough. He thought he didn't deserve it. And that was, in large part, because he had a secret: He wouldn't be diagnosed for two more years, but he'd suffered his entire life with dyslexia.

Dyslexics are every bit as smart as everyone else, although they may feel frustrated because reading is more difficult for them. The letters and symbols that most people see as fixed and rigid are more slippery to dyslexics, harder to pin down.