Action hero Tom Cruise was once attacked by an old man in a Kerry pub

American Superstar Tom Cruise was attacked with a stick in a Kerry pub after a local thought he was trying to steal cigarettes.

Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae says the incident occurred in the early 1990s at the Loo Bridge Bar near Kilgarvan.

The Mission Impossible star lived in Ireland with his then-wife Nicole Kidman for five months in 1991 while they were filming the movie Far And Away.

When they visited the Kerry pub they were likely to be hoping to take a bit of time of to de-stress in the stunning countryside.

However, the usually impeccable Irish welcome was put on hold when Cruise was suspected of stealing by an angry old local who didn’t have a clue who he was.

Healy-Rae was speaking to the Pat Kenny Show about his new book A Listening Ear when the subject of Cruise and Kidman’s visit came up.

He said: “This day, this young boy and young girl came into the pub and had jeans and sunglasses and tanned faces on them.

“There was a man sitting down the end of the counter called Ger The Manny. Everyone has a nickname and his name was Ger The Manny.

“He was an elderly man and he had his stick up on the counter and he was sipping away at a little glass of Guinness.”

Meanwhile, Cruise and Kidman ordered Diet Cokes from barman Matt. After serving their drinks Matt left the bar temporarily unattended as he ran an errand.

Healy-Rae continued: “When he was gone, the Yank leaned behind the counter and he had his hand dipped inside the counter.

“Ger jumped up off his stool, he caught his stick and drew a belt at yer man’s hand trying to hit him across the hand.

“But he just missed and there was a big bang down on the counter right near the Yank’s hand.

“The Yank said, ‘My goodness I was just leaning in to get a bit more ice’.

“Ger The Manny shouted out, ‘You bastard you were trying to steal Matt’s fags’.

“The Yank looked at them and said, ‘I was not, I was trying to steal nothing’. They sipped away at their Diet Coke and left.

“If Ger had been an inch or two longer he could have broke the arm of Tom Cruise trying to accuse him wrongly of trying steal a cigarette.”

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