Clint Eastwood saved the life of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament's CEO on Wednesday night, the Carmel Pine Cone reports today. "Clint came up behind me, and he knew exactly what to do," said CEO Steve John. "He did the Heimlich maneuver, and he lifted me right off the ground. He's strong! The cheese popped out, and I was fine."

The actor and director has lived in Carmel-by-the-Sea for half a century and owns many of the town's landmarks, including one-third of the Pebble Beach Golf Links that hosts the tournament. It was at a volunteers party on Wednesday night where the event's chief executive choked on the hors d'oeuvres.

"I looked in his eyes and saw that look of panic people have when they see their life passing before their eyes," the 83-year-old Eastwood told Paul Miller, publisher of the Carmel Pine Cone.

After talking about the life-saving drama, Eastwood and Miller discussed an annoying San Francisco Chronicle column about comedian George Lopez not returning to the tournament, as well a new Eastwood film project called American Sniper.

"It's a wild, tragic story," Eastwood said.

Golf has been delayed at the tournament because of heavy winter rains, which happens nearly every year. The "Crosby Weather" is named for Bing Crosby, who founded the tournament and is apparently responsible for the reliably bad weather. The weather allegedly caused by Bing Crosby and Clint Eastwood's golf tournament is the first significant rain of the year in parched California.

Before finding work in Hollywood, Eastwood was a jazz pianist in Oakland, a California Department of Forestry firefighter and—while serving in the Army at Fort Ord— survived the crash of a military plane off the coast of Point Reyes. He swam three miles to shore.

[Image via AP.]