Rescued, as it happens, king in action (9)
I believe the answer is:
delivered
'rescued' is the definition.
('deliver' can be a synonym of 'rescue')
'as it happens king in action' is the wordplay.
'as it happens' becomes 'live' (as in live television).
'king' becomes 'r' (r is abbreviation for rex).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'action' becomes 'deed' (deed is a kind of action).
'live'+'r'='liver'
'liver' put into 'deed' is 'DELIVERED'.
(Other definitions for delivered that I've seen before include "sent to the house" , "Brought to a destination" , "Handed over" , "Rescued" , "Produced new issue" .)