Game of Thrones’ Liam Cunningham recalls how he almost lost his sister at the night of Stardust fire

Both Game of Thrones and House of The Dragon are full of tragedies; from the infamous Red Wedding to the murder of young Prince Lucerys Velaryon. And just like the shows, some of the franchise’s actors also have their own horrifying tales, that might sound unreal to a lot of fans. Game of Thrones star Liam Cunningham, who played Ser Davos Seaworth on the show, recently shared a terrifying story about how he almost lost his sister at the Stardust fire tragedy that happened in February 1981.

The disaster claimed the lives of 48 people, with Cunningham’s sister narrowly escaping with minor injuries. He told the Irish Mirror, “I remember exactly where I was. I was up having a lemonade. I was a motorbiker at the time, and, for some reason, I drove past the Stardust just before the fire happened. [I remember] hearing these noises and thinking, what the hell is that? And then being woken up. One of the neighbours had knocked at our door to say there had been a fire in the Stardust.”

His younger sister Maria was at the Stardust that night. Cunningham recalled, “The radio was on, there was live reports and they were saying, ‘there’s three dead’. 20 minutes later, ‘there’s five dead’. And the number kept going up, and the waiting, as you can imagine, was horrific because, with every increase in the number, it got closer to the possibility that it was one of your own.”

“I hopped on the bike and I went straight to the Mater Hospital. And it was carnage. It was like Vietnam. There was just squad cars arriving, ambulances arriving, people coming in with blistered hands. I remember being just overwhelmed in the middle of the night with the amount of things going on, the manic nature of it.”

Liam then met a friend who knew his sister and he told him he had seen her being put into the back of a squad car. He eventually found her and a friend in Jervis Street Hospital where she was being treated for smoke inhalation. “I stayed for two minutes, and I said, ‘I have to get home. They don’t know you’re okay. I have to get home.’”

Do you remember the night of the Stardust tragedy? Talk to us in the comments below!

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