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Anson Williams (born September 25, 1949) is an American actor and director, best known for his role as gullible but well-intentioned singer Warren "Potsie" Weber on the television series ''Happy Days''. ==Life and career== Williams was born Anson William Heimlich〔According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905-1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable at http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461〕 in Los Angeles, California,.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Anson Williams )〕 His father, Haskell, legally changed the original spelling of their family name to "Heimlick", unlike Williams' second cousin, Dr. Henry Heimlich, namesake of the Heimlich maneuver for treating choking victims. Williams attended high school, where he was captain of the track team and acted in multiple school productions. In 1972, Williams landed the role of 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).〔(【引用サイトリンク】 ''Love, American Style'': Love and the Happy Days/Love and the Newscasters )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Happy Days )〕 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 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', ''Melrose Place'', ''seaQuest DSV'', ''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).〔(【引用サイトリンク】 ''Boy Meets World'': I Was a Teenage Spy )〕 While directing a 2003 episode of ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' titled "Sabrina in Wonderland", he appeared as Potsie in a fantasy sequence.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'': Sabrina in Wonderland )〕 He also joined his fellow ''Happy Days'' cast members for reunion specials in 1992 and 2005.〔 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''. 〔(【引用サイトリンク】 USPTO Celebrates Trademarks )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Anson Williams」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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