Happy Days star Henry Winkler has paid tribute to late co-star Tom Bosley on the eve of the beloved TV actor's funeral in Los Angeles.
Winkler, who played Arthur 'The Fonz' Fonzarelli opposite Bosley on the hit 1980s sitcom, tells People.com he last spoke to his old friend three weeks ago, as he was battling lung cancer.
The actor says, "He had just gone through several bouts of chemo, and you always heard him in a positive, forward attitude. He was always looking forward."
Bosley died at his home in Palm Springs, California on Tuesday (19Oct10) and Winkler admits he has nothing but fond memories of his co-star and pal.
He adds, "He had that wonderful, sprite-like energy of his. It was apparent on the phone when I spoke to him three weeks ago, it was apparent when we saw each other a year ago, it was apparent when we saw each other before that.
"Whoever worked with him was very lucky because he brought an enormous amount of experience and an enormous amount of wonderful talents. He was one of our best character actors."
And he was always the father figure among the Happy Day cast - even when the cameras weren't rolling.
Winkler explains, "When you are going into buying a house and you needed to get insurance and stuff like that, he would break it down, he would explain it, and then he would tell you who you had to talk to and find a good insurance person and so on and so forth. and you knew at least what the right questions were to ask."
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