THE BIPLANE STUNT THAT NEARLY COST ME MY HEAD

I’VE never been keen on doing my own stunts. For one scene in Shout At The Devil, my character had not to let an eyelid so much as flicker as a biplane swooped down over my head, with the propeller close enough to part my hair.

I couldn’t use a stand-in because the camera was on my face and the audience would notice the ruse. So I drew myself up to my full 6ft 2in and tried to ignore the stuntmen who were assuring me that ‘nothing can go wrong’. A few months later, an actor was decapitated in an identical stunt. I no longer stand under planes.

My co-star, Lee Marvin, was a former marine and loved doing his own stunts. He also consumed booze in such quantities that his brain was numb to the concept of risk.

For one shot, his character had to swim across the Umzimvubu river in South Africa. According to the locals, it was shark infested, which must have made life interesting for the crocodiles. The director reckoned he needed Lee to swim the first 20 yards, at which point he’d cut and the stuntman, Larry Taylor, would take over.

Lee dived in and struck out hard for the opposite shore. The director yelled cut, but Lee just kept swimming.

Beside me, Larry Taylor swore vigorously and said: ‘There goes my 500 quid!’ Stunt work earned good money... but only if the stuntman was actually needed.