FonzFan
09-19-2003, 07:15 PM
Green Bay - Former “Happy Days” star Henry Winkler said at a scholarship dinner here that some of the funnies moments of his life were with John Ritter.
Winkler, an actor, writer and producer who is best know for his role as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli, was in town for the Brian La Violette scholarship dinner and auction Tuesday, even though he buried his longtime friend the day before.
Ritter died suddenly last Thursday of an undetected heart problem. He was 54.
“You don’t know when it’s going to hit you.” Winkler said while talking about Ritter before the event. “If it’s walking through an airport and John goes through your mind and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, John...oh yeah, I can’t call him any more.’
“But I know he died happy. All he talked about was how happy he was.”
Ritter and Winkler had worked together on numerous occasions, including TV movies Winkler produced and “Hollywood Squares.”
“Some of the funniest moments of my life were sitting at a dinner table with John and Amy,” Winkler said, referring to Ritter’s wife, Amy Yasbeck.
Winkler said the cast of Ritter’s show “8 Simple Rules” was “inconsolable” at the memorial service.
“John was a dad on and off the screen (to the cast),” he said.
The dinner and celebrity auction were to benefit the Brian La Violette Scholarship Foundation. La Violette, a student at De Pere High School, died in an accident in 1992 at age 15, and his parents memorialized him with a scholarship fund. It now awards more than 30 scholarships each year.
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RIP: JOHN RITTER
September 17, 1948 - September 11, 2003
"Forever Will You Make Us Laugh"
Winkler, an actor, writer and producer who is best know for his role as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli, was in town for the Brian La Violette scholarship dinner and auction Tuesday, even though he buried his longtime friend the day before.
Ritter died suddenly last Thursday of an undetected heart problem. He was 54.
“You don’t know when it’s going to hit you.” Winkler said while talking about Ritter before the event. “If it’s walking through an airport and John goes through your mind and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, John...oh yeah, I can’t call him any more.’
“But I know he died happy. All he talked about was how happy he was.”
Ritter and Winkler had worked together on numerous occasions, including TV movies Winkler produced and “Hollywood Squares.”
“Some of the funniest moments of my life were sitting at a dinner table with John and Amy,” Winkler said, referring to Ritter’s wife, Amy Yasbeck.
Winkler said the cast of Ritter’s show “8 Simple Rules” was “inconsolable” at the memorial service.
“John was a dad on and off the screen (to the cast),” he said.
The dinner and celebrity auction were to benefit the Brian La Violette Scholarship Foundation. La Violette, a student at De Pere High School, died in an accident in 1992 at age 15, and his parents memorialized him with a scholarship fund. It now awards more than 30 scholarships each year.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
RIP: JOHN RITTER
September 17, 1948 - September 11, 2003
"Forever Will You Make Us Laugh"