Woody Harrelson - Harrelson: 'Cheers Saved My Life'

Playing a dim-witted barman on hit 1980s sitcom Cheers helped WOODY HARRELSON avoid a vicious death in Croatia.

The actor recalls befriending the wrong red-hot girls during a day out at the beach in Dubrovnik and becoming a target for their angry boyfriends, who were part of a tough gang.

He tells Playboy magazine, "These guys were coming down from the hillside. They were the toughest-looking motherf**kers you ever saw - some kind of Croatian judo gang or something - and they were coming down basically to kill me for being with these red-hot girls.

"They were ready to tear me apart, and it got mind-blowingly tense. But then one of these f**king guys recognises me from American TV, so we end up going out for drinks with them.

"I swear if I had not been on Cheers, I'd have died right there on that beach in Croatia."