13 Actors Almost Killed While Making Movies

1. Eli Wallach - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The late, great Eli Wallach was immortalised in the annals of cinema history with his wonderfully snivelling performance as Tuco in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

And though Wallach lived for almost 50 more years after the film wrapped shooting, dying of natural causes at the age of 98 in 2014, his life was very nearly cut short on three separate occasions while shooting the classic 1966 western.

First up, the actor ended up drinking acid which was placed next to his soda bottle by a thoughtless technician, requiring him to get his stomach pumped at the hospital.

Secondly, a spooked horse ran away with Wallach, whose hand were bound, on its back, fleeing for almost a mile before it could be wrangled. Miraculously, the actor didn't fall from the horse as he so easily could have.

And finally, a stunt in which Wallach had to lie prone next to a set of train tracks as a train passed by almost saw the actor decapitated, as the crew neglected to tell him the train had large, protruding iron steps which would likely kill him if he raised his head.

By sheer luck, Wallach kept his head down until the train had passed. The actor has much praise for director Sergio Leone, though has questioned the filmmaker's rather cavalier approach to safety, quite understandably. He's probably been more polite about it than most would be, honestly.

What do you make of these on-set near-death experiences? Shout it out in the comments!