13 Actors Almost Killed While Making Movies

6. Sylvester Stallone - Rocky IV

In his commitment to making the climactic fight between Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) as savage as possible, writer-director-star Stallone insisted that he and Lundgren trade blows for real.

One of Lundgren's resulting punches was so hard it made Stallone's heart slam against his breastbone, causing it to swell. Stallone's breathing began to falter and his blood pressure reached dangerous levels, at which point he was flown to hospital and kept in intensive care for eight days.

Considering that Stallone had to warn Lundgren to tone down his aggressiveness earlier in the shoot - as it nearly caused Carl Weathers to quit the film - it probably wasn't so smart asking him to mete out all that pent-up rage on his own chest.

Thankfully no lasting damage was done, but it was definitely touch-and-go for a moment there.