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32 Celebrities Who Have Saved The Lives Of Regular People
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Danny Trejo rescued a baby from an overturned car on August 7, 2019.
The tough guy actor - known for playing Machete in Robert Rodriguez films - had been nearby in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA, when two cars collided. One flipped onto its roof, trapping a baby in a car seat inside.
Trejo crawled inside the wreckage, and with the help of a bystander on the other side who unbuckled the child's seatbelt, pulled the baby safely out. Then he distracted the young boy until the child's grandmother was okay.
"Pay attention," Trejo advised other drivers, adding, "the only thing that saved that little kid was his car seat, honest to God." The Good Samaritan actor also added that "everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else."
- Age: 80
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
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While making Vice, the biopic about Vice President Dick Cheney, director Adam McKay suffered a heart attack. He credits actor Christian Bale - who plays Cheney - for inadvertently saving his life. While researching the role, Bale looked into the various signs of a heart attack. Many, including McKay, associate heart attacks with tingling in the left arm, but there are other signs of a heart attack to look out for. Bale asked McKay how he wanted him to play a particular heart attack of Cheney's, and the discussion ended up saving McKay's life. He recounted the event to Deadline, saying:
Sure enough, we finish the movie and I call my trainer. I say, we got to get on it, man. I’m too heavy. Our third workout, I get tingly hands and my stomach starts going queasy. I always thought when you get a heart attack, it’s pain in the chest or the arm. But then I remembered. When we shot one of the heart attack scenes, Christian Bale asked me, "How do you want me to do it," and I go, "What do you mean? It’s a heart attack. Your arm hurts, right?" He says, "No, no. One of the more common ways is that you get really queasy and your stomach hurts." I said, "Really? I’d never heard that before." And right in that moment [when McKay doubled over] I went, "Oh s*it," and I ran upstairs and downed a bunch of baby aspirin, and I called my wife who immediately called 911. Got to the hospital really fast, and the doctor said, because you did that, no damage was done, your heart is still really strong. That’s because I remembered Christian Bale telling me that.
- Age: 50
- Birthplace: Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK
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While better known for his acting and comedy, Ken Jeong is actually a licensed medical doctor. During a standup routine on May 5, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona, an audience member had a seizure. Once Jeong realized the woman was suffering a medical emergency, he left the stage to assist her. Working with an emergency medical technician, he helped keep the woman medically stable and stayed by her side until she recovered.
- Age: 55
- Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan
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Surfer Kelly Slater happened to be nearby when a rogue wave swept a mother and her young son off of the Kamehameha Highway in Oahu, Hawaii in January of 2016. When he saw that they were in trouble, he rushed in to save them from the powerful surf. Slater later wrote that it was just good timing. He said he had randomly stopped at that spot and happened to be in the right place at the right time. He also praised the life guards who were on their way to help.- Age: 52
- Birthplace: Cocoa Beach, Florida, USA
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At a PGA Tour party in 2014, Clint Eastwood noticed another guest choking on a piece of cheese. The actor acted quickly and performed the Heimlich maneuver, saving the man's life.
- Age: 94
- Birthplace: USA, California, San Francisco
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The veteran tough guy actor and helicopter pilot has participated in rescue missions on a number of occasions. In 2000, he saved the lives of two hikers who had been lost in the forest, one of whom was sick with dehydration. The next year, he helped locate a 13 year-old Boy Scout who was lost in Yellowstone National Park.
- Age: 82
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA
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In 2012, the Hunger Games actress noticed that a girl had collapsed on the sidewalk near her house. She called 911 and helped the young woman until they arrived.
- Age: 34
- Birthplace: Louisville, Kentucky, USA
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- Joe Seer
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In 2012, actor Dustin Hoffman noticed a jogger stagger and collapse in London's Hyde Park. He rushed to the victim's side and called paramedics, who were able to perform an emergency procedure that saved the man's life.
- Age: 87
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
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In 2011, the Oscar-winning actress saved a 90 year-old woman from burning in a fire! Winslet was staying at the mansion of Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island in the Caribbean during Hurricane Irene. When a bolt of lightning caused the house to go up in flames, Winslet was able to carry the tycoon's mother, Eve, to safety.
- Age: 48
- Birthplace: Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
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Maybe this is the first time that Cowell's brand of acerbic criticism saved someone's life. During a 2007 audition on "The X Factor," he said to singer Jacqui Gray: "Something happens to your throat when you sing. It is quite raspy. It sounds as if you have someone else in there, like you were choking on something." Heeding Cowell's words, the singer saw a doctor and discovered that she had a lung disease.
- Age: 64
- Birthplace: London Borough of Lambeth, England
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- Debby Wong
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Sean Penn has made a commitment to the recovery efforts in Haiti. He not only started organizations to help those affected by the destructive earthquake of 2010, but he has also spent a considerable time making aide efforts.
- Age: 64
- Birthplace: Santa Monica, California, USA
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During their first tour in the 1980s, the musical duo were eating at a restaurant that was robbed by a man in a ski mask with a sawed-off shotgun. Thinking quickly, John Oates jumped on the robber and pushed him through a glass door. He held his foot on the perp until the cops arrived.- Photo:
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In 2012, Mila Kunis helped save the life of a 50 year-old man who suffered a seizure while working on her house. The actress called the paramedics and stayed at the scene until help arrived.- Age: 41
- Birthplace: Kiev, Ukraine, Soviet Union
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During a 2012 polo match with Prince Harry, a rival player was knocked unconscious when he collided with other riders and fell from his horse. The Prince, who had learned first aid techniques in the army, rolled the man to a recovery position until he regained consciousness.
- Age: 39
- Birthplace: St Mary's Hospital, London, London, United Kingdom
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In 2011, actor Ryan Gosling saw a fight in progress on the mean streets of New York City. Instead of just standing there, he stepped in and broke it up! Here's a video of the action.
- Age: 43
- Birthplace: London, Canada
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In 2000, country music superstar Garth Brooks was visiting family in Oklahoma when a grass fire broke out. As houses went up in flames, he evacuated two brothers in his truck, and then he returned to the scene to rescue a neighbor and her three children.
- Age: 62
- Birthplace: Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
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Movie star Tom Cruise witnessed a hit-and-run in 1996. He couldn't find the perpetrator, but he paid the $7,000 bill for the victim's stay in the emergency room. That sure is nice.
- Age: 62
- Birthplace: Syracuse, New York, USA
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In 2009, a fan sent Demi Moore a Twitter message that threatened suicide. Instead of ignoring the tweet, the star contacted the police, who were able to locate the source of the message. Once the San Jose PD arrived at the house of the tweeter, they took her in for a psychological evaluation.
- Age: 61
- Birthplace: Roswell, New Mexico, USA
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In 1996, the "NCIS" star saved the lives of two teenage boys who had been in a car accident in front of his home. He used a sledge hammer to break open the window of the burning car and pulled them out of the flames to safety.- Age: 72
- Birthplace: Burbank, California, USA
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- T.I. (Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr.) has been credited with saving two lives. According to Creed frontman Scott Stapp, the rapper took care of him after he jumped over the balcony of a Miami hotel in a drug-fueled haze. Then, in 2010, T.I. was on his way to shoot a music video when he heard that a man named Joshua Sparks was threatening to jump off an Atlanta building. He drove to the scene and spoke to Sparks via a video he recorded for the police, helping convince him to step back from the ledge.
- Age: 43
- Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia
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This "True Blood" actor saved a life in 2011 when he spotted a man covered in blood lying in the middle of a Hollywood street. Kwanten stopped and helped moved the man out of the street, waiting until paramedics arrived.
- Age: 47
- Birthplace: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Rihanna uses her celebrity power to save the lives of children in need of bone marrow transplants. She jumps on Twitter and retweets young people in need.
- Age: 36
- Birthplace: Barbados, Saint Michael Parish
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Luke Wilson helped save a woman after a three-car accident in Los Angeles on February 14, 2018. A driver lost control of his Ferrari, and hit a BMW and clipped Wilson's car before crashing into a pole. Wilson and another witness freed the trapped woman from her BMW and carried her to safety.
The driver of the Ferrari, Mark William Gibello, died at the scene. He was driving professional golfer Bill Haas at the time of the crash.
- Age: 52
- Birthplace: Dallas, Texas, USA
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This New Kid uses his Twitter account for good. In 2011, Donnie Wahlberg retweeted a blog post about a fan who was in need of a new kidney. Soon after, a flood of potential donors called the Vanderbilt Medical Center, one of whom was a match. The fortunate fan, a woman named Bobbette Miller, was scheduled for transplant a few months later.
- Age: 55
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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In 2012, Jack Osbourne saved a woman who had a heart attack while swimming in Hawaii. As she struggled and began to began to drown, Osbourne and a friend helped pull her to safety and resuscitated her until an ambulance arrived.
- Age: 38
- Birthplace: London, England, UK
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The "Modern Family" actress helped a woman outside of a Las Vegas night club on New Year's Day 2012. The young woman had collapsed, and Vergara checked her woman's pulse and waited by her side until the paramedics came.
- Age: 52
- Birthplace: Barranquilla, Colombia
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Since 2004, David Lee Roth has worked as an EMT in New York City. He has saved many lives, including a woman who was having a heart attack. He brought her back to life with a defibrillator.
- Age: 69
- Birthplace: Bloomington, USA, Indiana
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The Kinks singer took a bullet to save a woman's purse. On an evening in 2004, the singer noticed a woman being robbed at gunpoint near the French Quarter in New Orleans. He chased after the perpetrators, who fired their weapons at him. Davies was shot in the leg, and the victim of the purse-snatching was unharmed.- Age: 80
- Birthplace: Fortis Green, London, England, UK
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In 2012, a teen driver crashed his vehicle in front of McDreamy's house. The actor acted quickly and called paramedics, and he stayed at the scene until they arrived.
- Age: 58
- Birthplace: USA, Lewiston, Maine
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In 2013, a woman fell outside of Liev Schreiber's property. The actor rode a scooter to the scene of the accident and helped the woman up.
- Age: 56
- Birthplace: San Francisco, California, USA
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Jamie Foxx acted like a real-life superhero in January 2016 when a 32-year-old man crashed his car outside of the Academy Award-winning actor's home. Foxx didn't hesitate to help the man, who had crashed into a drainage ditch, causing the car to roll several times before bursting into flames. He pulled the man out of his burning car, and dragged him to safety. The victim suffered head, chest, and neck trauma from the crash, and was later arrested for drunk driving.- Age: 56
- Birthplace: Terrell, Texas
As 2018 came to a close, Chancellor Bennett AKA Chance the Rapper rounded up some of his notable moments from the year on Instagram's Instastories, including a modest anecdote about that time he pulled a man from a burning car and saved his life in April of 2018.
The Grammy-winning artist revealed,
Ay so I never told this to the world but my friends can merch. I saved a persons by myself on Easter Sunday this year omw to church… Basically I was driving to church dolo, about to go south on lakeshore [drive] and another car drives into the wall in front of me goin like 90 mph comin off the exit. I was the only person out there when it first happened and his car was on fire so I had to break his window take off his seatbelt let his seat back and pull a whole grown man out the car unconscious.”
He admitted he hadn’t previously gone public with the story out of respect for the victim and his unknown fate, but was excited to share that months later, the man’s nephew contacted him to let him know his uncle had survived the fire.
- Age: 31
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
