Amy Adams Saves Man Stabbed in Neck

looked back on a harrowing life-or-death situation she found herself in the middle of in a new interview.

During an appearance on the June 22 episode of the Smartless podcast, Adams recounted how she stepped into action years earlier and potentially helped save the life of a man who had been brutally stabbed in the neck.

The 51-year-old actress – who made a  at the premiere of her new series Cape Fear earlier this month – had ventured out to Santa Monica, , for a day at the beach when she came across the blood-splattered scene.

'We were in Santa Monica, coming out of our favorite restaurant...' Adams recalled, adding that her father had joined her and her , on that day. 'These people were screaming, and a guy was walking, and they were yelling, "He's dying!" And my husband's like, "That's blood!"'

Adams recounted to hosts , Sean Hayes and how she and her father both jumped into action and rushed to help the man with potentially life-threatening injuries.

'He'd been stabbed in the neck,' she said. 'So he was bleeding, and his friends were freaking out.'

Adams said she rustled up towels nearby for her father, who used them to apply pressure to the stab wound in hopes of slowing the injured man's blood loss.

She added that she came on the scene after he had already been attacked, though the six-time Oscar nominee shared her theory about what had happened that day.

'As far as I could make out, they had run into an old college friend and had some drinks and went to the liquor store,' Adams explained. 'They were going to go back to someone's house, and he just freaked out. But I don't know what the whole story is.'