Exclusive
A SCOTTISH actor who ap-pears with Billy Connolly in the Oscar-tipped film John Brown was yesterday hailed as a hero after saving a young boy from drowning in the River Tay.
Gerard Butler, 26, was having a picnic with his mother at Taymouth Castle, Kenmore, a setting for parts of the film, when he heard a young boy screaming that his friend was in trouble.
Butler, who plays the young-er brother of the film's main character, raced to the riverside and saw a youngster in difficulty. He jumped in and pulled 14-year-old Daniel Smith to safety after he had disappeared below the surface.
The incident follows a number of drownings across the UK during the current hot spell, including 14-year-old John MacDonald at Balloch and Colin Clark, 24, in the River Dee.
Butler's mother, Mrs Margaret Coll, from Comrie, Perth-shire, said they had decided to go to Taymouth Castle because of its connections with John Brown, which premieres at next month's Edinburgh Film Festival.
She said: ''We were having a picnic behind the Kenmore Hotel, where Gerard stayed du-ring filming, when we heard a young boy screaming.
''The next thing I knew Gerard was racing along the riverbank. He saw the boy under the water and dived in. He swam to the side and got the water out of his lungs.''
Mr Butler said: ''I wouldn't call myself a hero. I just acted instinctively. When I brought him out he was lifeless. I'm just glad he's all right now.
''We went to Kenmore be-cause it brought back memories of filming. The river was so beautiful when I was there that I wanted to go back.''
A Tayside Police spokesman said: ''This man had the cour-age and presence of mind to act quickly. If it had not been for him I doubt the boy would have survived.''
The teenager, thought to be from the North-East of England, was camping in the area with three friends and an aunt and uncle. He was detained in Perth Royal Infirmary, but police said his condition was not thought to be life-threatening.
Butler played Renton in the play Trainspotting before landing the role of Archie Brown. John Brown, a film about Queen Victoria's relationship with her gillie, also stars Judi Dench.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article