13 Actors Almost Killed While Making Movies

2. Mel Gibson - Braveheart

Mel Gibson's Best Picture-winning historical epic almost lost its director-star while filming the principal battle scenes in Ireland.

Gibson employed members of the Irish Army Reserve to help perform the complex horseback sequences, though things went horribly wrong when Gibson was thrown from his own horse, and another horse in front of him began to fall backwards into his path.

Considering that even a light horse weights around 1,000 pounds, getting in the way of it falling backwards would certainly mean being crushed to death, though luckily for Gibson - and the studio - the actor's stunt double pulled him to safety just in time.

Impressively, despite the star's own near-death experience, he has claimed that the sum total of injuries on the movie's set were "a broken ankle and a hangnail and a busted nose."

Say what you will about Gibson, but the guy apparently knows how to take care of his cast and crew, though perhaps not himself.