JAMES CAAN's actor son SCOTT turned real-life action hero to save his dad from drugs.

The 60-year-old GODFATHER star, who has a history of drug problems, says when his then-teenage son learned he was a cocaine addict, he grabbed a baseball bat and went after the drug dealer.

Caan says, "I never thought my son suspected a thing. But one night, he went to this dope dealer's house with a baseball bat to beat him to death. "And this tough goon was afraid to open the door to a 15-year-old kid. I cry at the thought of that night."

Caan, who says he turned to drugs for comfort when his beloved sister BARBARA died, finally went through drug rehab in 1996 and cleaned up his act. He admits, "Drugs turned me into a hopeless obnoxious jerk." (LE/TG/RGS)

Source: WENN