Before Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers, or Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd nearly lost his life chasing Gilda Radner across a rooftop. He fell 50 feet through a skylight. And somehow, he walked away. Aykroyd was just 22 years old at the time, working in Canadian television alongside Gilda Radner. They were filming a children's comedy for CBC, playing a couple of spies dressed in black raincoats and hats. One of their scenes involved Gilda running across the roof of a warehouse with Dan chasing after her. There was a large industrial skylight in the middle of the roof, so Gilda ran around it. Dan decided to take a shortcut around the skylight, so he could cut straight across it and catch up with her. The glass had metal framing around it, and it looked sturdy enough to walk on, but it wasn't. The moment Dan stepped onto it, the skylight gave way. He fell roughly 50 feet, striking a metal lighting rack on the way down. The rack broke his fall just enough to save his life. When he landed, he was somehow able to get back on his feet. Musician Moe Koffman was nearby and asked Dan what had happened. Aykroyd calmly told him he'd fallen through the roof and needed to go to the hospital. When the ambulance arrived, Dan walked over and climbed inside on his own. Years later, Aykroyd talked about the accident and how fortunate he was to have survived. In a 2025 interview, he even credited divine intervention with saving his life. His career went on to include the Coneheads, the Blues Brothers, Trading Places, and eventually Ghostbusters. All of it could have ended on a warehouse floor in Canada before most Americans even knew his name.