On March 5, 1976, at 36 years old, Martin Sheen had a near-fatal heart attack while shooting Apocalypse Now in the Philippine jungle. He crawled a quarter of a mile for help. The production was so far over budget that Francis Ford Coppola feared investors would pull out if they learned the star had collapsed, so the official line became "heat stroke." While Sheen recovered in Manila, his brother Joe Estevez secretly doubled for him, shot from behind and used for voice-over. Coppola threatened suicide three times during the shoot and spent millions of his own money finishing the film.