As Henry Winkler prepares to star in panto at the Empire, Laura Davis discovers his thoughtful side

He grew up, surrounded by adopted aunts and uncles, his own having been lost during the Second World War.

“If you were to ask me to give you two words for living they would be tenacity and gratitude – I learned that from them,” he says.

“My parents came to New York in late ’39. My father had a work visa but he knew he was never going back, he just didn’t tell my mother so it was a little bit of a shock for her.”

Sadly, the affection he received from his replacement extended family did not protect him from a childhood marked by worry.

“People called me lazy and stupid. Inside I was thinking ‘I don’t think I’m lazy and stupid’ but I would memorise all my spelling words and in the time it took to walk from my apartment to the classroom it was as if they dripped out of my brain on to the floor.”

Winning the part of The Fonz helped build his confidence, he says, because the character was exactly the sort of person he would have liked to have been.

“I felt terrible about myself and it’s really hard work to remove that self image, so here I was playing this guy and I loved it because he was in control and didn’t worry as much as I did.”

After Happy Days, he opened his own production company and moved into directing. Film roles followed, in movies including teen horror flick Scream and the Waterboy, starring Adam Sandler.

He also reprised the role of Fonzie in a video supporting Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, created by Ron Howard, Richie Cunningham-turned-hot shot Hollywood producer.

But Winkler considers his greatest achievement to be his series of 17 children’s books, co-written with Lin Oliver, about a dyslexic boy called Hank Zipzer. They have sold more than 100,000 copies in the UK alone.

“Kids say to me ‘how did you do you know how I feel’,” he says. “But I do because for a long time I felt the same.”

PETER PAN is at the Empire from December 11 - January 3.