How Danny DeVito once saved Michael Douglas' life

Danny DeVito saved Michael Douglas' life while filming Romancing the Stone. Photo / Getty Images

Danny DeVito once saved Michael Douglas' life by sucking poison out of his hand after he was bitten by a snake.

The 73-year-old actor came to his co-star's rescue when he was attacked by a serpent while they were shooting their 1984 movie Romancing the Stone - but the Matilda star admitted his 73-year-old pal "would be dead" by now if the snake had struck on his nether regions.

He explained: "We were in Mexico in this really rugged kind of place.

"There was this guy who had a truck with a cage on it and inside the pickup truck, in the bed of the truck, were snakes.

"All the kids were around. I'm scared of snakes, myself, so I'm not going near a snake.

"But Michael, he's being the hot shot, Mikey D., and the guy's got a snake on his arm and all the kids are coming around. And Michael grabs the snake. I'm going, 'Michael, don't touch the snake! That's a snake, man. That snake could bite you, man.' "

But Danny says Michael - who he also starred alongside in 1985's The Jewel of the Nile, 1989's The War of the Roses and 2009's Solitary Man - replied: "Oh no, no Danny, it's no big deal."

Speaking on The Talk, he added: "Then the snake bites him on the hand, and I always heard the best thing to do is suck the poison out, right away, so I did.

"I grabbed his hand and I'm spitting all over the place, and I say, 'Boy, it's a good thing this didn't bit you on the balls man - you would be a dead man.' "

Danny previously shared a flat with Michael - who produced the star in 1975 comedy-drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - in the 60s, and said he was always a "babe magnet".

Speaking in 2015, the Twins star said: "He's a very unassuming, very sweet guy, but a babe magnet. So anywhere he went you can guarantee there would be a bit of buzz around him. There would be ladies."