Although he eventually was cast as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli in Happy Days, he admitted he struggled during table reads.
“When we did Happy Days, I embarrassed myself for 10 years reading around that table with the producers, the other actors, the director, all of the department heads. On Monday morning, we read the scripts. I stumbled over every word. I was completely embarrassed. Memorizing, if it’s written well, my brain is then able to suck it up like a vacuum cleaner.”
It wasn’t until his stepson began struggling in school and was tested for a learning disability that Winkler considered he too might have dyslexia.
“I went, ‘Oh my goodness. I have something with a name.’ That was when I first got it.”
Winkler was 31 years old at the time.
“I didn’t read a book until I was 31 years old when I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Books terrified me. They made me nervous,” he said.
