Stage, film, and television star Henry Winkler will join the cast of USA's "Royal Pains" in its second summer season. Winkler will join the cast in a major role next season as Eddie R. Lawson, father of the show's two lead characters Hank and Evan Lawson, played by Mark Feuerstein and Evan Paulo Costanzo respectively. It was revealed at the end of the first season that Winkler's would be character stole all of the money from his sons' business, HankMed. The show will air on Thursdays on USA during the summer. A premiere date and time slot have yet to be announced.
Expected in the next season, Eddie will join his sons in the Hamptons, hoping to ingratiate himself back into their lives.
Royal Pains is a USA cable network television series starring Mark Feuerstein about a young E.R. doctor who, after being wrongly blamed for a patient's death, moves to the Hamptons and becomes the reluctant "doctor for hire" to the rich and famous. When the administrator of the local hospital asks him to treat the town's less fortunate, he finds himself walking the line between doing well for himself and doing good for others. The pilot was filmed on location on Long Island, New York in spring and fall of 2008.
Other cast memebers include Reshma Shetty and Jill Flint.
Winkler has appeared on stage, film, and television throughout his long career. He appeared in his first pantomime at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London in 2006, playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan, replacing David Hasselhoff who pulled out when he was offered a TV role by Simon Cowell. He reprised the role in Woking, England for Christmas 2007. For the 2008/2009 season he played Captain Hook at the Milton Keynes Theatre and will don the hook once again for the 2009/2010 panto season at the Liverpool Empire with Les Dennis and Natasha Hamilton also in the cast. A close friend to actor John Ritter, the two led a Broadway ensemble cast in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party in 2000. Winkler's most notable television appearance were as The Fonz in Happy Days and as Barry Zuckercorn in Arrested Development.
Photo Credit: CTDA Management
