10 Actors Who Didn't Realise They Were Seconds Away From Disaster

Sometimes ignorance really can be bliss. But, in the case of Donald Sutherland's time dangling from a wire whilst shooting 1973's Don't Look Now, that ignorance very nearly resulted in a life-threatening tumble from up high.

With the stuntman on set deciding that he was not going to put himself in danger due to insurance not being in place for him should something go wrong, Sutherland was roped in to perform a sequence that would see his character dangle from a rope after some scaffolding crumbled away from beneath his feet.

The actor was attached to a Kirby wire for safety, but as it turned out, this would've done next to nothing to aid the star should the rope have suddenly snapped. As famous stuntman Vic Armstrong explained to Sutherland years later, the fact that the actor had been twirling around on the aforementioned rope would've led to the wire becoming damaged. Meaning that if he had let go or it had snapped, the chances are he would've fallen straight out of the sky.

This is why you should always leave it to the professionals, folks.