Henry Winkler on the Tao of Trout, and being a father figure on Royal Pains

By April MacIntyre Feb 24, 2011, 14:31 GMT

Now we enjoy Henry in his older years as Eddie Lawson, the father to two of the most irrepressible smallscreen characters ever penned, played by Mark Feuerstein (Hank) and Paulo Costanzo (Evan) for USA\'s train on fire: Royal Pains.

American television would not be what it is without the indelible imagery that actor Henry Winkler has given us over the decades in various roles. Most notably "The Fonz" of "Happy Days," one of our best sitcoms ever. 

Now we enjoy Henry in his older years as Eddie Lawson, the father to two of the most irrepressible smallscreen characters ever penned, played by Mark Feuerstein (Hank) and Paulo Costanzo (Evan) for USA's train on fire: Royal Pains.

Royal Pains airs on Thursdays at 9, 8, Central on USA

As the show closes out its second season, the looming questions of how sincere Hank and Evan’s father Eddie is about wanting to forge a real relationship with his sons remains.

Has too much water gone under the bridge? Will Fast Eddie go to jail? Winkler imbues his Eddie with as much soulful heart as he does grey areas of ethical coda.  We feel him, and the sons need to have their dad closer.  These men all seem like real family when in scene, not an easy thing to pull off.

Winkler is a proud recipient of the Order of the British Empire award, given by Queen Elizabeth for his work with children who are learning challenged, something he called “amazing” in an interview that Monsters and Critics participated in.

“I got a letter that said ‘you must keep this a secret. If the Queen decides to give you an award, would you accept it?’ I said, ‘Yes, I would. Six weeks later I got a letter saying, ‘The Queen of England has graciously agreed to confer on Henry Winkler the Order of the British Empire’ for the work that I do in England with children who learn differently. My book series with ‘Hank Zipzer: The World’s Greatest Underachiever’ that I write with Lin Oliver is also popular in the UK and I’ve spoken to a hundred thousand students over there.”

We love Henry Winkler, and hope you have enjoyed his arc on USA's excellent fraternal buddy dramedy, "Royal Pains." It's on tonight, please watch.

Here is an excerpt fron the interview:

Monsters and Critics: I’ve loved everything you done and my particular favorite film of yours, Night Shift, I love Chuck Lumley - he has my heart. 

H. Winkler:  You know Ron Howard said, “You can play either, just be in the movie.”  And I thought, well, I just played the Fonz for a lot of years; I’m going to play Richie and that’s how I picked Chuck. 

Monsters and Critics:  This wonderful series, Royal Pains is shot in the Hamptons, very richy rich, but there’s lots of lovely little townships on Long Island.  If you could pick a spot, where would you be and what you film there at your location, where do you fall in love, any little small towns, areas that you could talk about?

H. Winkler: You mean other than, well, I will tell you --.I will tell you that Boston is a great city.
Because it is large enough to learn your independence and small enough to make your own.

I’m going to do a movie in Boston; I just can’t tell you which one yet, starting at the end of March.  I am going to go back to Royal Pains, which I’m so excited about. 

Connecticut as a whole is a gorgeous state. I love the lobster in Maine; New Hampshire is fun to drive through to get to the lobster --.

But I’ve often thought, I’ve asked my wife this, where would we live if we didn’t live here because I never really attached to LA.  My children were born here, my dogs are Los Angelinos, I work here, but my heart is in New York. 

And my soul is in Montana where I fly-fish for trout. 

Monsters and Critics: Interesting, you don’t get anxietal like a lot of New Yorkers do in the Big Sky country?

H. Winkler:  No I don’t as a matter of fact, I am in heaven.  My, the new book on May first is about what I have learned on the river that I apply to my life. 

Monsters and Critics:  What’s the biggest fish you ever caught?

H. Winkler: Last summer, I caught a trout that was 25 inches long and 6 pounds.
And I’m still secretly screaming inside that I caught him and then of course I released him.

Monsters and Critics: When you go to the aquarium, did you ever think, “Well, that’s a good eating fish, that’s not a good eating fish?” 

H. Winkler No, I never thought about that in my life. 
And now I think to myself fish is healthy except that what we put in the ocean, I’m not sure what are the fish eating.  Like there’s that whole island in Indonesia, maybe, the size of Texas, that is only made of plastic.

Monsters and Critics:  Right, it’s caught in the Pacific current.

H. Winkler:  Oh, my god, what we have done to ourselves.  That’s what I think. 

Other questions from the interview:

On what kept him going throughout the years to not allow himself to be stereotyped by the character:

H. Winkler:  Well, there’s a phrase, that was first said in 1946, and my whole life, that, that when I give a speech, in public speaking, my speech is based on it. 

It’s if you will it, it is not a dream. 

And I now know that is the truth, the cosmic truth.  It just works, at least in the western hemisphere, it is the truth

On what other TV shows he is a fan of.

H. Winkler:   I love The Good Wife.  I think that is just a great show.  The new, Chicago Code, I’m enjoying.  Modern Family.  That is, that’s a killer.  What else do I watch?  I love Royal Pains, we talked about that yeah, and I like Rachel Maddow. 
And you know what else I like?  Burn Notice? 

I think that’s a really good show. 

On being a believable father figure in Royal Pains

H. Winkler  You cannot lie; the camera does not lie.  And we had so far the most wonderful time together and we don’t talk about it a lot; you do it once for the crew, you go through a scene then for the camera placement; you go through the scene for where you’re going to be in the room, how you’re gonna move together. 

You go and you put your makeup on, you go put your costume on.  You come back and then you shoot it two or three times and out of that come these unbelievably wonderful scenes.  I honestly believe that some of the best work I’ve done on television are the scenes that I have done with Mark, they are so emotional and layered but also it’s great writing. 

Everybody says that when I meet them on the plane or in an airport of some place in America, people talk to me about Royal Pains and they always talk about how much they enjoy everybody talking to each other.  It makes me happy.