1. What has been your strangest fan encounter?
Henry Winkler: One person came to me who had not showered in, probably, a millennium. And I literally had to — I don’t know. I had to take the shirt off that I was wearing, because it was now imbued, it was filled with this human being’s body odor. And I thought, “I cannot even have it dry cleaned. This will be the last time I can wear this shirt.” It was shocking.
2. You’re at a magazine rack and can pick three magazines. What are they?
I’d pick a magazine on photography. Because, being dyslexic, I’ve never turned a knob on my camera in my life, but I love taking pictures. For a long time, I didn’t read. … Every book I read, I must own in hardback, and I have it on the shelf in my office, so I see them every day. Every one of them is a triumph. [And] I do like Architectural Digest.
3. Do you have a favorite sports team?
USC Trojans. As a matter of fact, this [weekend], my son and I are going to cheer them on playing Arizona State. I e-mail the coach from anywhere I am in the world. I do.
4. When was the last time you were starstruck?
The last time I met Bruce Springsteen. … On my birthday last year, my wife got me tickets, and we went to see the Magic tour. I go backstage, and I shake hands with him, and with Patti, his wife, and I literally could not put a sentence together.
5. Do you ever watch your own work?
I do. I have to give it time. And then I look to see whether or not I was fibbing myself — whether or not I did the job I thought I did. Because I don’t know. … I know what I want, and I don’t always achieve it.
6. What are you most looking forward to right now?
My children being healthy and happy.
7. What’s Adam Sandler’s next film and are you going to be in it again?
I never know until I get the call. But I will say that he’s one of the four brilliant, brilliant human beings that I’ve gotten to work with in my career, so far. [In addition to] Mitch Hurwitz, Garry Marshall and Ron Howard.
8. Do you get embarrassed when you hear people talk about TV shows “jumping the shark”?
No. I don’t, because look — there are several reasons: I am the only actor in the world — in the world — who has jumped the shark twice. Once on Happy Days, and once on Arrested Development. That’s first of all. Second of all, after I jumped the shark on Happy Days, we were still No. 1 for three or four years after that.
Henry Winkler appears this month as a fatherly uncle to Brooke Burns (Miss Guided) in the Hallmark Channel original film The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, premiering Dec. 13.