Television and Movie Stars Who Have Been Heroes in Real Life

They've played heroes on the big screen and on television. You may be surprised to learn Mark Harmon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, and many other movie and television stars have been heroes in real life too.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been governor of California and one of the most successful and richest movie stars in Hollywood. He was also a successful body builder and was chosen as Mr. Olympia seven times. In 2004, the governor became a real life hero for a man in the water nearby who was having problems breathing and swimming. The former weightlifter grabbed a boggie board, treaded 20 feet of water, picked the man up, put him on the board, and swam with him to shore. He sat with the man for while to be sure he was okay and then told him to sit another 30 minutes.

While television and former football star Mark Harmon is always busy on his show, "NCIS," as a hero, he was a hero in real life a few years ago. He didn't apprehend a murderer or a terrorist who was out to destroy the country, as he does on television. He did rescue a 16-year-old driver who had crashed his car into a wall near the actor's home. In almost no time, the tires on the boy's car were engulfed in flames. The driver may not be around today if Harmon hadn't taken a sledgehammer and gotten him out of the burning vehicle. The boy's parents, who had been separated, later reconciled.

Tom Cruise has often played a hero in such movies as "Mission Impossible," "The War of the Worlds," "A Few Good Men," and others. In 1996 he became a real life hero at least two, possibly three times. When he saw a woman who had been injured in a hit-and-run accident, he became involved in a big way. He took her to the hospital and even paid her bill! Later in the same year, he saw two young boys almost crushed to death by a crowd of people. He pulled them out of the crowd in time to save their lives. Some reports also say he rescued a group of people from a burning boat. There have been disputes about whether the third incident happened, or whether the press was just trying to add to the Tom Cruise mystique.

Harrison Ford has played a heroic President of the United States, an innocent man trying to clear his name in "The Fugitive, " and a policeman trying to protect an Amish woman and her son from a murder in the movie, "Witness." The boy was a witness after seeing a murder. Ford has had other heroic roles. The actor once used his helicopter to fly into Table Mountain in Wyoming and rescue hiker Sarah George, who had been overcome with heat, dehydration, and altitude sickness.

Actor Tom Hanks was jogging one day and he heard the cries of a drowning man. The actor rescued him.

Heroism hasn't been restricted to male actors either. Actress Renee Zellweger once saw a woman faint and fall down part of Runyan Canyon in California. Not content to wait for help, Renee slid down to help the woman while a friend of the actress went to get assistance.

After the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, actor Sean Penn personally rescued two people who had gotten trapped in a building after an aftershock.

The same year, actor Johnny Depp rescued a man in London from a mugger.

In 2009 actor Robert Downey Jr. became a hero when he stopped filming of "Iron Man 2" and rushed to help a movie extra who had been smashed by a robot in the movie. Apparently nobody else noticed the extra's injuries.

The same year actor Pierce Brosnan noticed a runaway van heading straight toward a group of cast members filming "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief." One star was actress Uma Thurman. Brosnan jumped into the car, applied the brakes, veered away from the stars, and into a curb.

In 2008 actor Brad Pitt rescued a fan that had fallen into a lake.

Some actors must take their heroic roles very seriously.

Citations:

Movie Heroes to the (Real-Life) Rescue! By Stacy Jenel Smith, channels.isp.netscape.com

The Governor Saves a Drowning Man, the Associated Press, forum.mazda6club.com

Real Life Hero Mark Harmon, by Mike White, associatedcontent.com

life hero, no author listed, thaindian.com