Potsie Weber having happy days in beauty biz

An unlikely person is behind the skin-care products used on the sets of "Grey's Anatomy," "Ugly Betty," "Desperate Housewives," "Hannah Montana" and other shows.

Anson Williams.

Yes, Potsie Weber, of "Happy Days," is in the skin-care product business. And he's doing extremely well at it.

During a recent stop in Chicago, he admitted that his StarMaker line is the most successful and lucrative thing he's ever been involved with "by a mile."

"I've always been an entrepreneur," says Williams, 58, who once sold stationery door-to-door as a teen. "I don't claim to be an expert in beauty. I'm just the business owner. My name or picture isn't on (the products)."

Since "Happy Days" went off the air in 1984, Williams' career veered toward directing, and he did several popular shows including "Star Trek" and "Beverly Hills 90210." He also had five daughters, ages 1 to 18.

While directing "Melrose Place" in 2000, Williams met makeup artist JoAnna Connell. He'd listen to cast members rave about her pearl-based hand and face creams, which she made in a lab in her home. That's when the light bulb went on in his head: We should sell this stuff to the public.

A short time later, Williams and Connell had teamed up to sell StarMaker Products on QVC. It was an instant hit, and StarMaker quickly became a multimillion-dollar business.

It's poised to become even bigger. Not only will StarMaker add an "overnight face-lift" cream to its product line this spring, but there are plans to introduce a unique nonbeauty product (the details are hush-hush).

Even though these products are popular with the Hollywood set, they're all priced at less than $40.

"Most of what's out there now is junk. It's all marketing," Williams said. "Our philosophy is, if it's a good product, people will buy it again. You don't have to overprice it."

In the Chicago area, StarMaker products are sold only at CVS or at www.starmakerproducts.com.

Anson's 'Happy Days'

You can't interview Anson Williams without asking at least a few "Happy Days" questions, so to spare him the agony of repeating the same old stories, he faced just two questions in multiple choice format.

1) "Happy Days": love talking about it or hate talking about it? "Happy to talk about it, but it's old news," he said.

2) Ron Howard, love him, hate him or jealous of his success? "Love him so much. He's one of the greatest characters I've ever met in my life. Just a really good person. And talented. He deserves it," he said.

Williams also remembers the advice "Happy Days" creator Garry Marshall gave him back in the 1970s -- advice that proved to be valuable.

"He said, 'Take the opportunities at hand. You might be a star somewhere else,'" Williams said.

Since then, he always envisioned a life beyond "Happy Days."

"If you think like a Potsie, that's what you're going to be," he said.