The Fonz is no mere mortal man; He can do practically anything. The good news is that when The Fonz fails, Henry Winkler is more than capable of stepping up to the challenge.

Winkler did many of his own stunts as The Fonz, both on land and water. Winkler revealed that in the Happy Days episode "Hollywood Part 3," he actually did his own water skiing.

During an interview with CBS Mornings, the actor revealed that he was prompted to share his aquatic skills by his father.

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“My father was a very, very small German person,” said Winkler. “He would say, ‘Tell Garry Marshall that you water ski.’ ‘I said I’m not going to tell him I water ski.’”

Luckily, Winkler’s father was persistent, and it paid off. “Finally, after the fiftieth time, I said, ‘Garry, my father wants you to know that I water ski,’” said Winkler. “All of a sudden, I’m water skiing and they pulled out the lining of the jacket so it would be more buoyant, and I’m water skiing and I did everything but the jump because I couldn’t do the stunt.”

Winkler maintained that he performed the entire stunt except for the actual jump, and admitted that while filming, he even surprised himself.

“[After the jump] I let go of the rope and I land,” said Winkler. “I step out of the skiis and onto the beach, and they freeze frame on my smile. Half that smile is The Fonz going, ‘Hey, look at that. I did it.’ and the other half is Henry going, ‘Oh my God, you did it!”