Scripter > Press > Releases > December 9, 2004
Press Releases
For Immediate Release
December 9, 2004
Contact:
Toni Miller (213) 740-2328; cell: (626) 319-7231; scripter@usc.edu
Henry Winkler to Host 17th Annual USC Scripter® Award; Hal Kanter Returns as Grand Master of Ceremonies
LOS ANGELES -- Actor, producer and author Henry Winkler has been tapped as master of ceremonies for the 17th annual USC Scripter® Award ceremony to be held Sunday, February 20th on the University of Southern California campus. Hal Kanter, who has lent his humor to all 16 prior Scripter ceremonies, returns for the fifth time as grand emcee.
Winkler is best known for his portrayal of "The Fonz" for 10 seasons on the hit series Happy Days, a role for which he earned two Golden Globe awards and three Emmy nominations for best actor, as well as the status of pop-culture icon. He recently starred on Broadway in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party and has a recurring role on the Emmy-winning series Arrested Development. Guest appearances include Third Watch, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and ABC's The Practice, for which he received an Emmy nomination. He also continues to voice Norville the Bird on the award-winning animated children's series Clifford: The Puppy Years, for which he received an Emmy nomination.
On the big screen, he recently appeared with Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight in Holes, with Freddie Prinze Jr. in Down to You and with Adam Sandler in The Water Boy. Other film credits include Wes Craven's Scream; Heroes, which co-starred Harrison Ford and Sally Field; The One and Only; and Night Shift, which was directed by his good friend Ron Howard.
While Winkler continues to perform on stage, television and film, he is even more active as a producer and a director. Together with partner Michael Levitt, Winkler produced the Happy Days' 30-year reunion special for ABC and the Dallas reunion special for CBS, and executive produced Hollywood Squares for two years. In 1983, he formed JZM Productions to develop quality children's television programming. The JZM moniker was derived from the first initial of his three children's names, Jed, Zoe and Max.
"I am both flattered and honored to have been asked to participate in this year's Scripter Awards," said Winkler. "In my profession the word must come first, and I am thrilled to be part of an event that honors those who create the words." In 2003, he began writing a series of 10 children's novels Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Under-Achiever with his writing partner Lin Oliver. The books are inspired by Winkler's own educational struggles due to learning challenges. There are more than one million of the books in print. The first six Zipzer books are in bookstores now and have appeared on several bestseller lists, including the Los Angeles Times Book Review and Barnes and Noble.
Flourishing in TV's Golden Age, Kanter was the head of the Emmy-winning writing team of The George Gobel Show. He also wrote scripts and special material for such comedy legends as Bob Hope, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Kanter made his film directorial debut with I Married a Woman, followed by Elvis Presley's first starring role, Loving You, in 1957, and Once Upon a Horse, a Western parody starring Dan Rowan and Dick Martin in 1958.
"The annual Scripter Award is such a joyful evening of casual elegance," said Kanter. "I always break a vow of abstinence to toast writers in the comforting setting of the USC Doheny Library."
Kanter was the creative force behind the popular 1968 sitcom Julia, a sociologically important effort in that it was the first weekly TV program to star a young black woman, Diahann Carroll, in a non-subservient role. During the 1970s, Kanter became executive producer of All in the Family.
In 2004, Kanter was honored by the Writers Guild of America, west, with the Morgan Cox Award, which is presented to the member whose vital ideas, continuing efforts and personal sacrifices best exemplify service to the Guild. He previously received the Guild's Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award, its highest honor. He continues to be a prolific on-camera interviewee in retrospective documentaries devoted to film and TV comedy, and he also has scripted 30 Academy Award® shows. His autobiography, So Far So Funny, was the subject of a USC Friends of the Libraries Literary Luncheon in 1999.
The annual black-tie Scripter gala, hosted by the Friends of the USC Libraries, is held in the Los Angeles Times Reference Room of the Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library at USC. Event tickets and tables will go on sale in January 2005. Tickets are $500 each and table sponsorships are $6,000, $11,000 and $30,000. Proceeds benefit the Doheny Library Preservation Fund.
For additional information, please call (213) 740-2328, email scripter@usc.edu or visit http://scripter.usc.edu.