Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman nearly lost his life in 1970 - when an anti-war group accidentally detonated dynamite in their secret factory next door to his home.

The Graduate star was living in an apartment just one door down from the radical organization Weather Underground's makeshift bomb factory in New York City's Greenwich Village in March of 1970. And he still thanks his lucky stars he stepped out of his house for a few hours when the group inadvertently set off explosives.

But just one year after the harrowing incident, Hoffman learned he had another tie to the Weather Underground - his then-girlfriend was a member of the violent activist group.

He tells the New York Daily News, "She never told me. I found out about a year later. I wasn't mad (because) she wasn't involved in (the Village blast)."

The explosion destroyed the three-story house and claimed the lives of three people. (PAW/WNWCDN/ZN)

Copyright 2008 WENN