Lawyer turned actor Gerard Butler was just 26 and enjoying his first big screen break when he saved the life of a boy who had been swimming in Scotland's River Tay. It was back in 1997 and Butler was with his mother in the grounds of Taymouth Castle, where he had recently been filming a supporting role in the Queen Victoria drama Mrs Brown. Their picnic was interrupted when 14-year-old Daniel Smith started to drown and his terrified cousin could only scream for help. As the 300 star raced to their aid he saw that Daniel was underwater and being swept down the river so he jumped in, managed to get the teenager to the riverbank then revived him by pumping the water from his lungs. Butler was given a bravery award by the Royal Humane Society of Scotland but was modest about the save and said: ''I wouldn't call myself a hero. I just acted instinctively. When I brought him out he was lifeless. I'm just glad he's all right now." In a 2013 interview he was asked about the incident and admitted: "It reminded me of the Time Machine, where the woman is in the water, drowning and screaming, because I looked around and nobody else had paid any attention, so I thought, am I imagining this? I went in and I pulled him out, and there was a scary moment because Ive never had to save anyones life before. I didnt really know what I was doing."
