A version of this story about Henry Winkler first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s Emmy magazine.
When Henry Winkler’s agent told him he was on the short list for a part in an upcoming HBO comedy series from Bill Hader and Alec Berg, Winkler had an immediate response: “Is Dustin Hoffman also on the short list? ‘Cause if he is, I’m not going in.”
But Hoffman wasn’t, so Winkler showed up, “made Bill Hader smile and then laugh,” and landed the role of Gene Cousineau, an alternately brash and seductive acting teacher in “Barry.”