Happy Days

Background:

American actor and director Anson Williams is best remembered as Warren 'Potsie' Weber on the long running ABC sitcom “Happy Days” (1974-1984), from which he picked up a Golden Globe nomination. An aspiring gym teacher, Williams found he had a knack for acting as a freshman in college and began pursuing his ambitions after he quit college. Following early stage work in Kansas, he appeared in commercials and TV shows during the early 1970s and soon hit the big time with “Happy Days.” After “Happy Days” stopped airing, Williams switched gears from acting to directing and has directed episodes of popular TV shows such as “Xena: Warrior Princess,” “Melrose Place,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” “Charmed” and “Lizzie McGuire.” More recently, he worked on “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” (2008-2009).

In the early 2000s, Williams sporadically returned to acting with work in episodes of “Baywatch” (as Councilman McKenn), “Son of the Beach” (as Warden Jack Beatty) and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” (reprised the role of Potsie). In 2009, he costarred in the television film “Take 2” (also a director and executive producer).

Williams has been married twice and is the father of six. He is the nephew of Dr. Henry Heimlich, who is famous for creating the Heimlich Maneuver for choking victims.

Potsie

Childhood and Family:

Anson Williams was born Anson William Heimlich on September 25, 1949, in Los Angeles, California. His father, Haskel, was an art director for an aviation company and a concessionaire. While in high school, Anson worked nights at his dad's Orange Julius stand on Van Nuys Boulevard.

Anson attended Pierce Junior College where he took a drama class as a freshman. He was immediately bitten by the acting bug and dropped out of college to try his hand at acting.

On November 19, 1978, Anson tied the knot with actress Lorrie Mahaffey, whom he met on the set of “Happy Days.” In the series, she played Anson's onscreen girlfriend, Jennifer Jerome. They divorced in 1986 after having one daughter. Anson married Jackie Gerken in 1988. The couple has five kids together.

Anson is known by the nickname Potsie.

Behind the Camera

Career:

Anson Williams got his first professional acting job in Kansas where he performed in “The Sound of Music” and “The Music Man.” He went on to appear in several McDonalds commercials in 1971 and received guest spots in the television series “Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law” (1971), “The Paul Lynde Show” (1972) and “Marcus Welby, M.D.” (1973). He made his TV movie debut in the NBC critically acclaimed drama “Lisa, Bright and Dark” (1973), where he portrayed Brian Morris. Costars of the film included Anne Baxter, John Forsythe and Anne Lockhart.

Williams' big breakthrough arrived when he landed the regular role of Warren 'Potsie' Weber on the Garry Marshall created comedy series “Happy Days” (ABC, 1974-1984), opposite Henry Winkler, Marion Ross, Ron Howard and Don Most. Playing the best friend of Richie (played by Howard), he was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1985 in the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV.

During his tenure on “Happy Days,” Williams made guest appearances in the TV series “Laverne & Shirley” (1976), “The Love Boat” (1977), “Greatest Heroes of the Bible” (1979) and “Fantasy Island” (1983). He also appeared in the TV film “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” (1977), directed by Tim Kiley, and co-hosted (with then-wife Lorrie Mahaffey) the TV special “Anson and Lorri” (1981), which was conceptualized as a pilot for a spin off but was unsold.

Four months after “Happy Days” left the airwaves, Williams portrayed the supporting role of Nick Bellows in the NBC television movie “I Married a Centerfold” (1984), which was based on the real life romance and marriage of Playboy's Linda Rhys Vaughn. The film starred Teri Copley, Tim Daly and Diane Ladd. “I Married a Centerfold” became Williams' last performance for about 11 years while he focused on directing.

Williams made his directing debut in 1985 with the “ABC Afterschool Specials’ ‘No Greater Gift,’” starring Ajay Naidu and Betty Thomas. It was followed by work on the CBS “School Break Special ‘The Drug Knot’” (1986) and “L.A. Law” (1987). He then co-wrote and directed the TV movie “Lone Star Kid” (1988), also executive produced with former “Happy Days” costar Ron Howard). He next directed Barbara Eden, Hector Elizondo, Meagen Fay and David Kaufman in “Your Mother Wears Combat Boots” (1989), Tempestt Bledsoe and Clifton Davis in “Dream Date” (1989) and Tim Matheson, Ann Jillian and Howard's younger brother, Clint, in “Little White Lies” (1989). All three television movies aired on NBC. He also helmed episodes of “Hooperman” (3 episodes, 1987-1988), “Just the Ten of Us” (1 episode, 1988) and “Baywatch” (1989).

During the 1990s, Williams' directing career increased significantly. He helmed episodes of popular series like “Diagnosis Murder” (4 episodes, 1993-1994), “SeaQuest DSV” (7 episodes, 1995-1996), “Xena: Warrior Princess” (1 episode, 1996), “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” (2 episodes, 1996), “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (2 episodes, 1997-1998), “Star Trek: Voyager” (4 episodes, 1997-1999), “Melrose Place” (9 episodes, 1996-1999), “Beverly Hills, 90210” (8 episodes, 1996-1999) and “7th Heaven” (2 episodes, 1998-1999). Other directing efforts included the TV film “Quiet Little Neighborhood, a Perfect Little Murder” (1990, starred Teri Garr and Robert Urich), the direct to video thriller “All-American Murder” (1991, starred Christopher Walken and Charlie Schlatter) and episodes of TV series such as “New York Undercover,” “The Pretender” and “The Love Boat: The Next Wave.” In 1995, Williams made a brief return to acting when he appeared as a waiter in an episode of the sitcom “Fudge” called “No Exit.” He also directed the episode and six more episodes of the series, including “The Mouse Trappers,” “The Art of Friendship,” “The Grade Escape,” “The TV Star,” “Saving Up Is Hard to Do” and “How Turtle Got His Name” (all 1995).

In the new millennium, Williams continued to direct episodes of hit series like the Melissa Joan Hart fantasy “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” (1999-2003), the Holly Marie Combs/Alyssa Milano/Shannen Doherty (later replaced by Rose McGowan) series “Charmed” (3 episodes, 2000-2001) and the Hilary Duff vehicle “Lizzie McGuire” (5 episodes, 2001-2002). From 2000 to 2002, he also directed episodes of “The Pretender,” “Titans,” “The Nightmare Room” and “Body & Soul.”

Back to acting, Williams delivered a good performance as Councilman McKenna in two episodes of “Baywatch” (2000). He next played Warden Jack Beatty in an episode of “Son of the Beach” called “Jailhouse Notch: Part 2” (2002) and reprised the role of Potsie for an episode of “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” called “Sabrina in Wonderland” (2003), which he also directed.

Recently, in 2009, Williams directed episodes of the teen drama “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” which was created by Brenda Hampton and starred Shailene Woodley, Daren Kagasoff, Kenny Baumann, Mark Derwin, India Eisley, Greg Finley II, Megan Park, Francia Raisa and Molly Ringwald. He also directed and executive produced the comedy television movie “Take 2” (2009), in which he starred with Beth Littleford and Don Most.

Awards:
---