Iconic TV star, Henry Wrinkler was born in 1945, in New York, to the parents who were German Jews that had escaped from the war. He had a childhood that filled with rough memories, as he rememebered an instance from his childhood, “When children at school used to say to me, ‘My parents and I are going on a trip’ or ‘We had so much fun together,’ I didn’t even know how that was possible.”
He had struggled with reading disorder, and that caused many problems with his parents and teachers, who were having high expectations from Wrinkler. As he was struggling with his disorder, the teachers and his parents that didn’t aware of his condition, instead of helping him, had mocked him.
“They had an affectionate phrase for me called Dummo Hund. That means dumb dog.” He explained the insults he had heard from his parents.
His teachers too had thought that he was having mental problems with his intelligence, as actually he just had a condition of reading disorder.
He had a terrible education story, as he was discouraged from education, as his teachers and family had labeled him as a mentally challenged kid.
After applying 28 different colleges, he had his place in the Yale School of Drama. With his audition, as he played a part from Shakespeare, people who auditioned him had seen his potential.
And when he was 27, he had became one of the most known TV stars of his time.
Other than reading, he had some problems with his coordinated movement too, and that led to him to refuse a lead role in Grease. He even joked that, “Because I’m an idiot”, when he was asked the reason he had refused the role.
He had learnt that he had dyslexia, when he was 31. When he had took his stepson to his routine doctor examination, he had problem with the dyslexia examination the doctors had for his stepson.
After 31 years, he had learnt the name of his problem.
As he was having problems with reading, he had improved himself in terms of improvisation on his acting skills, and that became a unique trait for him, a way to avoid his problems with dyslexia.
When they had questioned the reason of his improvisation, he had an answer for that too, he said, “I’m giving you the essence of the character.”
After the Happy Days ended, he started to have problems in his acting career, as he couldn’t hold on to his roles. Later on, he had took the role of the producer, and created the MacGyver in TV.
He also a support from his wife, Stacey Weitzman, that no one had given him, and that was a powerful thing for him to continue, as he had struggles.
They met in 1976, and when they met, Witzman was a mother to a four-year-old son. In couple of weeks, she had moved in with Henry, as she took her son with her. In their relationship, they had welcomed two children, Zoe and Max.
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