Danny Devito On The Time He Sucked Snake Venom Out Of Michael Douglas’ Hand

Lifelong bromance: DeVito and Douglas Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer September 21, 2018

And now, for the story of the harrowing time when actor Danny DeVito saves actor Michael Douglas from certain death after a Mexican snake bite.

Happy, happy Friday.

Promoting his new animated movie “Smallfoot,” on The Talk, the 73-year-old DeVito recalled cheerfully the time he performed what the Talmud calls the greatest mitzvah — saving Michael Douglas’ life.

The two actors were filming the 1984 action-comedy “Romancing the Stone” in Mexico, when, according to DeVito, they happened upon a pickup truck with a bed filled with snakes. “I’m scared of snakes, myself,” he said, sensibly. “So I’m not going near a snake.”

Here’s how DeVito tells what happened next:

But Michael, he’s being, like, you know, the hot shot, Mikey D, you know what I mean? And the guys got a snake on his arm…and all the kids are coming around. And Michael grabs the snake. I’m going, ‘Michael, don’t touch that snake! That’s a snake, man. That snake could bite you, man!’ And he says, he says, ‘Oh no, no Danny, it’s no big deal. WHACK. The snake bites him on the hand.

DeVito, who had heard that snake venom has to be sucked out, lunged forward and started orally removing the tainted blood from Douglas’ wound. “I said, ‘It’s a good thing this didn’t bite you on the balls, man. You would be a dead man.’”

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO