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Emmy-winning actor and best-selling author Henry Winkler, 79, is the host of a new History Channel show, “Hazardous History With Henry Winkler.” It premieres June 15.
Jabari Jacobs/A&E Television Networks
It’s early morning, and Henry Winkler is enthusiastically video chatting from his home office in L.A. about all the things he learned while hosting and executive-producing the new History Channel show Hazardous History With Henry Winkler. The nostalgia-filled series takes a “how did we let this happen” look back at the risky pastimes, practices and products that were once part of Americana.
“Chemistry sets,” Winkler says with genuine surprise. “They had uranium in the chemistry set. So you could make your own atomic cloud in your house and die at 15!”
Although his excitement for the series is authentic, today he’s eagerly awaiting his favorite role: Grandpa. Four of his seven grandchildren, ages 6 months to 15 years, are coming over that afternoon to play on a Slip ’N Slide. “It is joyful,” Winkler says. “To be around them, to love them, to feel them loving you back.”
But first, Winkler shares more with AARP about his upcoming work; what he told Robert De Niro, 81, when he bumped into him recently; and why he wrote Helen Mirren, 79, a fan letter.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
In May, Winkler delivered a graduation speech at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., that went viral. “This world is yours now,” Winkler told the 2025 graduates. “And this world needs fixing. And I pray to the heavens that you are the fixers. I say to you now: go!”
Elian Studio/Courtesy Georgetown University
Your commencement speech at Georgetown University last month was touching. How did you feel giving it?
I would have to say, divine. First of all, I like that I get to talk to students and tell them, “If I’m here, you can be here.” And that you’re sitting there and over there looks scary, but when you get there, you realize, “Well, wait a minute, there’s no mystery here. I can do this.” And then everything in between. And the energy — they were right there with me. I was right there with them. It was a colossal moment.
Would you tell your younger self the same thing, or something else?
Only recently have I been able to even think of an answer, and it is: Know what you want, without ambivalence. The world is mostly built on you getting yourself where you need to be. You cannot depend on an outside force.
Have you stopped worrying so much as you’ve grown older?
What really makes me uncomfortable is that phrase “Youth is wasted on the young.” I know that the process is you learn, but I wish I knew then what I know now. But then maybe the sheer terror would not have pushed me to be here to have that thought.
In “Hazardous History,” Winkler explores the dangerous things Americans used to do for fun, such as fighting bears.
Jabari Jacobs/A&E Television Networks
What’s the worst thing about getting older?
My knees! Your body betraying you. ... My friend said, “In your 60s, it is clear sailing. In your 70s, your body will beat you up.”
If the physical part is the worst, what’s the best part about getting older?
What I now know. I cannot say I am wise, because I don’t know if that is true, but I am overjoyed with being able to be relaxed enough to see a truth in front of me. Knowing yourself, you know everybody on the earth.
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