10 War Movie Actors Who Were Actually There

Perhaps the strangest and most tragic example of an actor revisiting their wartime experiences on film is Audie Murphy's performance in To Hell and Back, a 1955 film in which Murphy starred as himself and relived the battle that won him the Medal of Honor.

Said battle took place in Holtzwihr, and saw Murphy repel an entire German counterattack almost singlehandedly by directing artillery fire and utilising a 50. caliber machine gun stationed atop a friendly tank that had been set alight by the advancing enemy. Murphy was wounded multiple times in the engagement, but was able to link back up with his men, who successfully drove the opposing German forces away.

Murphy's heroics were well documented at the time, and upon his return from the European Theatre he was celebrated as a war hero. This eventually attracted Hollywood attention, and soon, Murphy was starring in numerous films - mostly Westerns, but also the occasional drama and war picture, of which To Hell and Back is the most notable example.

Based on Murphy's 1949 autobiography, To Hell and Back cast the Medal of Honor recipient as himself - something Murphy was initially (and understandably) reluctant to do, given his well-documented PTSD. His casting ensures that To Hell in Back remains one of the most unusual and, at times, upsetting war films of the 1950s, as well as a reminder of Murphy's fierce acting potential, which was cut tragically short when he passed in a plane crash in 1971.