KEVIN COSTNER - COSTNER: 'STEWART INSPIRED ME TO ACT'

KEVIN COSTNER was inspired to become an actor by veteran star JAMES STEWART. The Dances With Wolves star was mesmerised after watching the Oscar-winning actor in classic western How the West Was Won as a child - and was astounded adults were paid to play cowboys and Indians. Costner tells British film magazine Little White Lies, "As a kid, my imagination was on fire. I remember seeing Jimmy Stewart in his canoe in How the West Was Won when I was seven, so I tried to build a canoe myself in my backyard. "I cut down a tree and tried to hollow it out, I threw gasoline on it, set it on fire and tried to blow it up. My mom said, 'Get that s**t out of here, it's messing up the backyard!' "I loved acting but never thought I had a chance of doing it to make a living."