Actor John Malkovich helped save the life of a severely bleeding man in downtown Toronto Thursday evening.
Returning from dinner, Ohio tourist Jim Walpole, 77, tripped on the sidewalk on King East Street and slashed his throat on some scaffolding. Blood began gushing out of the wound. As Walpole’s wife Marilyn, 79, a retired nurse, described it, “The way he was spurting I thought it was the carotid [artery] or the jugular [vein].” She called for help.
Malkovich was apparently standing outside the Elgin Theater (where is performing) smoking a cigarette and rushed to the injured man’s aid. Malkovich used his scarf to apply pressure to Walpole’s throat to help stop the bleeding until paramedics arrived.
Ben Quinn , a prominent restaurateur, and the King Edward Hotel doorman — who called 911 — also assisted at the scene. “The guy really seemed to know what he was doing,” said Quinn of John Malkovich. “We didn’t know who he was. I just asked if I could hold the man’s head and he said yes.”
When Walpole, who later revealed he had never seen a movie starring John Malkovich, asked for his name, the Oscar nominee merely said “My name is John and you are going to be all right.” Malkovich took off when the first responders arrived.
Walpole said “I owe them all my life, but the first guy [Malkovich] really seemed to know what to do.” Added Walpole, he “took over like a doctor.”
Walpole was treated at the St. Michael’s Hospital trauma unit, and he is fine. Walpole and his wife said they will be stocking up on John Malkovich DVDs when they get home.
Malkovich, 59, is in Toronto performing in The Giacomo Variations , playing the role of Casanova. The actor has appeared in about 70 movies and was nominated for an Academy Award for Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire .
[top image credit: Petr Novák, Wikipedia ]
