Clint Eastwood Saves Pal With Heimlich

Clint Eastwood played the hero in Pebble Beach, Calif., this week with timely use of the Heimlich maneuver, reports the Carmel Pine Cone. At a dinner to honor volunteers working the annual pro-am golf tournament there, tournament director Steve John began choking on a piece of cheese. “I gave him three good jolts, and that got it out,” the 83-year-old Eastwood tells the newspaper. “The look on Steve’s face was different than when somebody is just coughing or joking around."

John confirms he was in genuine trouble and credits Eastwood with saving his life. “I don’t know how a guy that age picked up a guy my size, but he did,” he tells the San Francisco Chronicle. John, who weighs about 200 pounds, said Eastwood helped again afterward by suggesting he put lemon in his water. "He knew the acid helps," said John. "I’ve got a lucky angel, man.” (More Clint Eastwood stories.)