Four decades after Fonzie, Henry Winkler wins his first Emmy for ‘Barry’

After kissing his wife of 40 years, Stacey, and hugging Bill Hader and Alec Berg — the men who hired him for “Barry” — Henry Winkler made it to the stage to collect the first Primetime Emmy of his celebrated career.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” he said, taking in the moment. “I only have 37 seconds. I wrote this 43 years ago. “

Winkler, 72, earned his first Emmy nomination in 1976 (his onstage math was off a year) for his iconic turn as “the Fonz” on ABC’s hit “Happy Days.” He was nominated twice again for the series and picked up a pair of nods in 2000 for guest actor spots.

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Claire Foy won lead actress in a drama series for “The Crown.”

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Matthew Rhys won lead actor in a drama series for “The Americans.”

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Winners for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” include Michael Zegan, left, Daniel Palladino, second from left, Amy Sherman-Palladino, center, and Rachel Brosnahan, right.

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The cast of “Game of Thrones” won drama series.

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The cast of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” won limited series.

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Darren Criss won lead actor in a limited series for “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.”

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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” won reality-competition program.

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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” won reality-competition program.

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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” won reality-competition program.

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Joel Fields, left, and Joe Weisberg won drama writing for “The Americans.”

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John Oliver and Liz Stanton after winning variety talk series for “Last Week Tonight.”

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John Oliver poses after winning variety talk series for “Last Week Tonight.”

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Lorne Michaels and his cast win variety sketch series for “Saturday Night Live.”

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Lorne Michaels accepts variety sketch series for “Saturday Night Live.”

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Lorne Michaels, winner of variety sketch series for “Saturday Night Live.”

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Regina King, winner of lead actress in a limited series or movie for “Seven Seconds.”

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Thandie Newton, winner of supporting actress in a drama series for “Westworld.”

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Glen Weiss proposed to Jan Svendsen when accepting the award for directing for a variety special for his work on “The Oscars.”

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Jeff Daniels, winner of supporting actor in a limited series or movie for “Godless.”

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Peter Dinklage, winner of supporting actor in a drama series for “Game of Thrones.”

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John Mulaney, outstanding writing for a variety special.

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Rachel Brosnahan, outstanding lead actress in a comedy series award for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

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Charlie Brooker, left, and William Bridges, outstanding writing for a limited series, movie or dramatic special for “Black Mirror: USS Callister.”

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Merritt Wever, outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie for “Godless.”

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Alex Borstein, outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

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Amy Sherman-Palladino, outstanding writing and outstanding directing for a comedy series for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

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Bill Hader, left, outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for “Barry” and costar Henry Winkler for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series.

  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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He finally won for his hilarious, heartfelt turn as the narcissistic acting teacher on the dark comedy “Barry,” the first-year HBO series that also earned Hader a lead comedy actor Emmy.

Accepting the trophy, Winkler quoted prominent entertainment lawyer Skip Brittenham: “If you stay at the table long enough, the chips come to you, and tonight I got to clear the table.”

Backstage, Winkler was still beaming.

“It feels wonderful,” he said, joking that he was “wearing rubber pants in anticipation of the shock of winning tonight.”

“And I used a little powder, but I had control,” he continued, smiling. “I think I had the longest drought between nominations than anyone else in the academy.”

Winkler’s category was competitive. The other nominees were three-time Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Kenan Thompson and Alec Baldwin (“Saturday Night Live”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Atlanta”), previous winner Louie Anderson (“Baskets”) and Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”).

Winkler recently had prominent roles on celebrated comedies such as “Arrested Development” and “Parks and Recreation.” He recognized immediately that the role on “Barry” was something special.

“When I was 27, I got the Fonz,” Winkler told The Times in an interview earlier this year. “And because I changed my voice, I changed my body, it was like a key that unlocked my imagination. And at that moment, after all of my training, I realized that I really am just a character actor. I am not a leading man. But I knew, without the change of voice, without the detail of the Fonz, I wasn’t the actor I wanted to be in my mind or in my imagination.”

“So that was 27,” he continued. “And now I’m 72, so I’ve flipped the numbers, and I am closer to the actor that I thought about being when I was 27. Some people can do it right away: Ryan Gosling, Jack Nicholson, there is no distance — Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Wright. There is no difference between the character and their soul. There’s no space. You can’t even slide a piece of paper between the two. And I dreamed of that, but I couldn’t accomplish that.

“And maybe I’m just getting there now.”

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