`Royal Pains' Actor Adopted By `The Fonz'

Royal Pains actor Mark Feuerstein (left) is on cloud nine after finding out Henry Winkler -- aka The Fonz (right) -- is his TV dad. Photo courtesy of USA.

Friday, July 23, 2010 1:08 GMT

Winkler plays Mark Feuerstein’s father on Royal Pains, airing Thursdays on USA Network, and Feuerstein couldn’t be happier about his onscreen relations.

Turns out the Royal Pains TV doctor was a huge Happy Days fan growing up and, in his words, “Worshipped The Fonz.”

He thought Winkler’s leather-clad character was the absolute coolest, and now that The Fonz is his dad on TV, Feuerstein figures he’s somehow “cool by association.”

To this day, Feuerstein says Winkler has a certain “panache” about him, where everything he says and does comes out extra cool.

He hopes some of that smoothness eventually rubs off on him on set, although he’ll settle for simply hearing stories about Winkler’s career, including the time he refused to comb his hair on Happy Days.