They're Hollywood's men of action, the stars who take moviegoers to the edge of danger and beyond. They dangle from mountaintops, race across the plains on horseback, drop-kick bad guys across hotel rooms and close out the day with hardly a scratch.

But how many of these big-screen heroes--the Stallones and Schwarzeneggers, the Gibsons and Costners--are as fast, strong and sturdy as they look? And how many let others handle the dirty work while they do nothing more strenuous than carting off Hefty bags of money?

Indeed. A well-shot action scene gives the illusion that it's the star who's leaping from rooftop to rooftop or falling off a runaway horse. But while many actors might boast, "I do all of my own stunts," the behind-the-scenes translation is generally "I watch all of my stunts".

Kevin Costner, for instance, is an athletic guy who runs and jumps in his movies, but he's also no dummy. On the set of Robin Hood a few years back in Burnham Beeches, England, Costner sat on a log and kibbitzed while a stuntman prepped to swing on a vine from one tree to another.

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