Anson Williams

Template:Use mdy dates

* director

**Anson Williams** (born **Anson William Heimlich**, September 25, 1949, in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor, singer, and director, best known for his role as gullible, well-intentioned singer Warren "Potsie" Weber on the television series *Happy Days* (1974–1984), a role for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Williams has since become a prominent television director, working on programs such as *Melrose Place* (1992–1999), *Beverly Hills, 90210* (1990–2000), *Sabrina the Teenage Witch* (1996–2003), *Lizzie McGuire* (2001–2004), and *The Secret Life of the American Teenager* (2008–2013).

## Life and career

Williams was born Anson William Heimlich to a Jewish family. His father, Haskell Heimlich, legally changed the spelling of the family name to "Heimlick", unlike Williams' uncle, Dr. Henry Heimlich, namesake of the Heimlich maneuver for treating choking victims. Williams attended Burbank High School, where he was captain of the track team and acted in multiple school productions. In 1971, he appeared with John Amos in a commercial for McDonald's.

In 1972, Williams portrayed Potsie Weber in a segment of the comedy-anthology series *Love, American Style* titled "Love and the Happy Days", which also introduced Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard), Richie's mother Marion (Marion Ross), and other characters that were spun off into the television series *Happy Days*. (Only Williams, Howard, and Ross reprised their roles for the spin-off). The new series' first season, during which Williams received second billing after Howard, was centered mainly on Richie and Potsie. Eventually, as break-out character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) and Richie's mother, father, and sister became more popular, Potsie was joined by Ralph Malph (Don Most, who was merely a side character in season one), and Potsie and Ralph became inseparable.

Unlike Howard and Most, Williams was one of the few to remain through the entire run of the series, although his appearances became less frequent in later seasons. In some episodes, Richie, Potsie, and Ralph formed a band combo that performed at Arnold's Drive-In and other places. As Potsie, Williams actually sang lead vocals for the group. Williams' first wife, Lorrie Mahaffey, portrayed Potsie's girlfriend, Jennifer, in later seasons.

After *Happy Days*, Williams began a much more prolific career as a television director, starting with short programs for adolescent-age children, including afterschool specials "No Greater Gift" (1985) and "The Drug Knot" (1986), and TV-movie *Lone Star Kid* (1986). He has gone on to direct many episodes for a variety of television series, including *The Pretender*, *Beverly Hills, 90210*, *Melrose Place*, *seaQuest 2032*, *Star Trek: Deep Space Nine*, *Star Trek: Voyager*, *Xena: Warrior Princess*, *Hercules: The Legendary Journeys*, *The Secret Life of the American Teenager*, *Sabrina the Teenage Witch* and *Charmed*. He also directed several episodes of the TV series *7th Heaven*.

Despite his success as a director and producer, Williams has occasionally returned to his work on *Happy Days* in retrospective ways. He played himself in a 1996 *Happy Days*-themed *Boy Meets World* episode (which also featured former castmates Tom Bosley and Pat Morita). While directing a 2003 episode of *Sabrina the Teenage Witch* titled "Sabrina in Wonderland", he appeared as Potsie in a fantasy sequence. He also joined his fellow *Happy Days* cast members for two reunion specials: *The Happy Days Reunion Special* (1992) and *Happy Days: 30th Anniversary Reunion* (2005). Williams initially objected to footage of Potsie appearing in Weezer's 1994 music video Buddy Holly, which was set in Arnold's Drive-In from *Happy Days*, but he later relented.

Williams is also a businessman. In 1987, fellow *Happy Days* cast member Al Molinaro and he opened a chain of diners called Big Al's; the business went defunct. He founded Starmaker Products, a cosmetics company, and was a featured speaker at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's National Trademark Expo in April 2008, at which he talked about the importance of registered trademarks for small businesses (and signed autographs for *Happy Days* fans). Williams is the author of *Singing to a Bulldog: From Happy Days to Hollywood Director, and the Unlikely Mentor Who Got Me There*.

### *Happy Days* lawsuit

On April 19, 2011, Williams and four of his *Happy Days* co-stars, Erin Moran, Don Most, Marion Ross and the estate of Tom Bosley, who died in 2010, filed a $10 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS, which owns the show, claiming they had not been paid for merchandising revenues owed under their contracts. The cast members claimed they had not received revenues from show-related items, including comic books, T-shirts, scrapbooks, trading cards, games, lunch boxes, dolls, toy cars, magnets, greeting cards, and DVDs, where their images appear on the box covers. Under their contracts, they were supposed to be paid 5% from the net proceeds of merchandising if their sole images were used, and half that amount if they were in a group. CBS said it owed the actors $8,500 and $9,000 each, most of it from slot machine revenues, but the group said they were owed millions. The lawsuit was initiated after Ross was informed by a friend playing slots at a casino of a "Happy Days" machine on which players win the jackpot when five Marion Rosses are rolled.

In October 2011, a judge rejected the group's fraud claim, which meant they could not receive millions of dollars in potential damages. On June 5, 2012, a judge denied a motion filed by CBS to have the case thrown out, which meant it would go to trial on July 17 if the matter were not settled by then. In July 2012, the actors settled their lawsuit with CBS. Each received a payment of $65,000 and a promise by CBS to continue honoring the terms of their contracts. Williams said, "I'm very satisfied with the settlement. And that's all I can say."

## References

1. ↑ "Free Family Tree, Genealogy, Family History, and DNA Testing". https://www.myheritage.com/.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Anson Williams". *Internet Movie Database (IMDb)*. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0930041/.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Template:Cite book
4. ↑ Bloom, Nate (September 16, 2008). "Jewish Stars". Cleveland Jewish News. https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/archives/jewish-stars/article\_85724807-ed41-5c08-a10a-0e20513166ab.html.
5. ↑ "*Love, American Style*: Love and the Happy Days/Love and the Newscasters". IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0637037/combined.
6. ↑ "Happy Days". IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070992/combined.
7. ↑ "*Boy Meets World*: I Was a Teenage Spy". IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0530901/combined.
8. ↑ "*Sabrina, the Teenage Witch*: Sabrina in Wonderland". IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338091/combined.
9. ↑ "Buddy Holly: How Four LA Rockers Created the Definitive Hipster-Doofus Battle Cry", Ryan Domball, *Blender*, November 2008
10. ↑ "USPTO Celebrates Trademarks". United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/main/homepagenews/2008mar31.htm.
11. ↑ Zamost, Scott (April 20, 2011). "'Happy Days' actors claim fraud, money owed for merchandising".
12. ↑ Gardner, Eriq (June 5, 2012). "'Happy Days' Actors Win Key Ruling in CBS Lawsuit".
13. ↑ Scott, Zamost (June 5, 2012). "'Happy Days' cast members' lawsuit heading for trial", CNN.
14. ↑ Daley, Sean (August 6, 2012). "Chachi done with broke Joanie".
15. ↑ Zamost, Scott (July 7, 2012). "'Happy Days' actors settle lawsuit with CBS", CNN.

## External links

Template:Commons category

* Template:IMDb name
* Interview with Anson Williams, Accessed August 12, 2017.

Template:Authority control