October 31, 1999.

When he wants to get away from it all, the British actor Rupert Graves (A Room With a View, the TV miniseries Cleopatra) goes rock climbing.

"It's a dangerous sport, and I put ropes on if it gets too high," said Graves, 36, whose challenges have included the Alps and the Pyrenees.

If he didn't already know the dangers rocks pose to life and limb, Graves found out while filming Dreaming of Joseph Lees, which just opened. He plays a geologist who loses a leg in a quarry accident. To prepare, he visited amputees at Roehampton Rehabilitation Center in England.

"They were my guides," he told us. "We spoke about the emotional trauma of losing a limb, and they taught me how they walked." Graves also wore a weight on his ankle, straps around his shin and a stirrup under his foot. "You can't move your leg," he explained," and it feels like an artificial limb."

©1988 Parade Magazine.