Anson Williams

He may have created one of the most durable secondary characters in sitcom history, but Anson Williams made his greatest contribution behind the camera as one of television's most prolific episodic directors. Williams's professional future was ensured in the second acting gig he ever landed; a one-off appearance on "Love, American Style." In an episode entitled, "Love and the Happy Days," he was a teenager named Potsie having a coming-of-age conversation with his buddy Richie, played by veteran child star Ron Howard. The ratings response prompted the series producers to spin off a sitcom based on the relationship of these two teens and call it "Happy Days." Set in 1950s Milwaukee, the show revolved around the Cunningham family but when Henry Winkler's cool rebel Arthur Fonzarelli became a breakout character, Williams's Warren "Potsie" Weber was relegated to the background along with fellow second banana Ralph Malph (played by Donnie Most).

To his credit, Williams stayed through the end of the show's 10th season. After appearing as the lead in the panned made-for-television movie "I Married a Centerfold," Williams reinvented himself as a much in-demand television director. Starting out with the 1986 anti-drug after-school special "The Drug Knot," he quickly moved on to helming episodes of shows from different genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and crime dramas.