Actor Aaron Eckhart has a recurring dream, in which he falls to his death.

The Dark Knight star has suffered from night terrors ever since he fell off a cliff when he was 11 and almost died after plunging 60 feet (18 metres).

He says, "My brother was fishing and he was watching me fall... and the entire time I was falling, he said I was screaming, 'Why does it always happen to me?'

"My dad had to come down... and construct a makeshift stretcher and he got me up the hill."

Eckhart adds of his terrifying dreams, "I have recurring dreams where I'm falling... and I know I'm going to die and then I have to, in my dreams, get myself out of bed... and then I wake up."

The Possession star also admits the cliff fall wasn't his only major mishap in his youth: "I was the kid in the family who got a fish hook in my eye, I broke my arm, I almost had my foot amputated."