CHUD.com Community › Forums › THE CHEWERS › Drafts & Lists › Real actor deaths on movie sets
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Real actor deaths on movie sets

post #1 of 33
9/22/05 at 4:02am
Thread Starter 
List some films where an actor actually died during filming and how or if it changed production or the film's story. Off the top of my head...
Bruce Lee-didnt die during filming but died before he could complete Game of Death
Brandon Lee-shot during The Crow
Ben-Hur- I think someone was killed in the chariot race
Twilight zone movie-guy and two kids are killed by out of control helicopter
Reply
post #2 of 33
9/22/05 at 8:22am
That was Vic Morrow in the twilight zone movie, and they had to restructure the story to use the footage they had. Twilight Zone was after Morrow gave one of the most god-awful performances in "1990: The Bronx Warriors", so I think someone who saw that abortion rigged the Helicopter on purpose.

With Brandon Lee they used a body double/cut scenes to complete the film, and it still kicks ass.


Not a movie, but an honorable mention goes to John Eric Hexum, who while filming the TV series "Cover Up" way back in the 80's, put a gun loaded with blanks to his head and pulled the trigger. Apparently, he was unaware of air pressure and the wadding used in blanks, which ended up shattering his skull and killing him a week later. The show was cancelled there after, and he earned a Darwin Award for his performance.
Reply
post #3 of 33
9/22/05 at 11:57am
Incidentally, its a fallacy that the stunt man died during the Ben-Hur chariot race. Think I read that in the most recent Empire where they listed movie myths.... Y'know, like Errol Flynn's enormous cock and Richard Gere's anus' love of rodents.

There's always Oliver Reed carking it in a bar in Malta, whilst getting hammered and trying to take on some Navy lads during filming on Gladiator - not sure about the veracity of the last bit, but he definitely died.

And Gloria Foster, the Mother of the Matrix famously died close to finishing up work on Reloaded, hence the actress change and script re-jig for Revolutions, though i'm sure Joel Silver claimed they were always going to use a different actress for Revolutions.

As for people getting killed on set, I think Brandon Lee and Vic Morrow are the most famous outside of no-name stuntmen.
Reply
post #4 of 33
9/22/05 at 12:46pm
Plan 9 From Outer Space, Lugosi. I don't know if this is entirely true but it happens in Tim Burton's (brilliant) Ed Wood...
Reply
post #5 of 33
9/22/05 at 12:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sackley
As for people getting killed on set, I think Brandon Lee and Vic Morrow are the most famous outside of no-name stuntmen.
I love the use of 'no-name stuntmen' to callously dismiss the hardworking people who might have died so that a bunch of chuckleheads could have 90 minutes of escapist entertainment. Well done.
Reply
post #6 of 33
9/22/05 at 12:59pm
The OTHER Kevin Smith.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808963/

Probably most famous for being in the Hercules and Xena series, as Ares, the God of War. I liked him a lot and was shocked to hear about his death.
Reply
post #7 of 33
9/22/05 at 1:32pm
I'm pretty sure John Candy died on the set of WAGONS EAST. He dies yet Richard Lewis lives, thanks God!
Reply
post #8 of 33
9/22/05 at 2:56pm
Tyrone Power died on the set of Solomon and Sheba,and had to be replaced by Yul Brynner.
No one died in the chariot race in Ben Hur (1959)..that is an urban legend...but the producer, Sam Zimbalist fell dead of a heart attack less then a hour after leaving the set in Rome.
Reply
post #9 of 33
9/22/05 at 3:07pm
No humans died on the set of Ben-Hur--however, 16 of the horses used during the chariot race ended up having to be put down, because of the strain put on them during the filming.
Reply
post #10 of 33
9/22/05 at 3:15pm
Didn't we lose a "little" actor during The Wizard Of Oz filming?
Reply
post #11 of 33
9/22/05 at 3:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Death Surge
the TV series "Cover Up"
I used to watch that show. last episode I saw, they interrupted the credits to tell viewers that the main guy had passed away and so the episode was dedicated to his memory... that was when Bonnie Tyler music took on an extra poignant significance.
Reply
post #12 of 33
9/22/05 at 5:31pm
Then of course there is the sad tale of Jonathan Brandis, who decided to hang himself after his part in the crappy "Hart's War" was severly edited. I would have thought less screen time in that clunker would have helped his career...
Reply
post #13 of 33
9/22/05 at 9:12pm
A Bell from Hell

Quote:
Director Claudio Guerín Hill fell from the tower housing the title bell on the last day of shooting and was killed.
Damn, i gotta see this film.
Reply
post #14 of 33
9/22/05 at 10:31pm
One of the gunmen from the beginning of Once Upon A Time In The West killed himself on set.
Reply
post #15 of 33
9/23/05 at 12:32am
Alexander Fu Sheng died during the middle of filming of Eight Diagram Pole Fighter.

The director rewrote the film and gave Gordon Liu a more prominent role and because of Fu Sheng's death the film ended up with a pretty grim tone.

A quote from Celestial that just recently was involved in the remastered dvd of this film:

Quote:
What started as the masterful kung fu filmmaker's homage to the heroic Sung Dynasty Yang family becomes a furious rumination on heroic sacrifice when international idol Alexander Fu Sheng died in a car accident midway through production. Wanting to immortalize Sheng's final, unfinished performance, Liu carried on. The result is unique in the director's extraordinary filmography in its emotional intensity and kung fu power. There are heartbreaking references to the tragedy throughout, but the stunning climax is truly unforgettable. It must be seen to be believed.
Reply
post #16 of 33
9/23/05 at 2:39pm
The Animator fell dead during the making of "Monty Python And The Holy Grail".
Reply
post #17 of 33
9/23/05 at 3:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ Fischer
I love the use of 'no-name stuntmen' to callously dismiss the hardworking people who might have died so that a bunch of chuckleheads could have 90 minutes of escapist entertainment. Well done.
To be fair, it's pretty silly to defend the honor of men who choose to risk their lives just so "a bunch of chuckleheads could have 90 minutes of escapist entertainment. "
That's hardly a noble endeavor.
Reply
post #18 of 33
9/23/05 at 3:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattimus
Then of course there is the sad tale of Jonathan Brandis, who decided to hang himself after his part in the crappy "Hart's War" was severly edited. I would have thought less screen time in that clunker would have helped his career...
I heard he checked himself out after losing the role of Anakin Skywalker.
Reply
post #19 of 33
9/23/05 at 4:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobClark
To be fair, it's pretty silly to defend the honor of men who choose to risk their lives just so "a bunch of chuckleheads could have 90 minutes of escapist entertainment. "
That's hardly a noble endeavor.
Fair? To whom? How is it silly? And who said anything about nobility? If you've paid to see more than one action movie in your life, you've given up the right to say a damn thing about how stuntpeople live their lives -- you're paying for them to do so.

These 'no name' people died so that a star could look good or you could be entertained. As evidenced by this thread, that's an ignominious, largely forgotten death. All the more reason that a discussion like this should pay them some respect, rather than passing them off as no one special.

Dismissing their deaths as those of 'no-name' and therefore unimportant personalitites, especially while naming/honoring the similar fates of 'name' actors, is despicable behavior of a unique order.
Reply
post #20 of 33
9/23/05 at 5:10pm
Yeesh.
Reply
post #21 of 33
9/23/05 at 5:27pm
I'd like to take a second to pay my respects to stuntman Chris Lamon. He died due to an accident on the set of EXIT WOUNDS. Heaven needs stuntmen to.
Reply
post #22 of 33
9/23/05 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobClark
Yeesh.
Yeah, pretty much what I thought when I read your post.
Reply
post #23 of 33
9/24/05 at 9:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grofield
He died in a car crash unrelated to the production.
Yes, I know.

In the initial post (could be interpreted a couple of ways I suppose).

Quote:
List some films where an actor actually died during filming and how or if it changed production or the film's story.
Reply
post #24 of 33
9/24/05 at 10:36pm
Walt Disney once made a snuff film?
Yes, it´s true!

Quote:
Claim: During the filming of the 1958 Disney nature documentary White Wilderness, the film crew induced lemmings into jumping off a cliff and into the sea in order to document their supposedly suicidal behavior.
Status: True.

Origins: Lemming
suicide is fiction. Contrary to popular belief, lemmings do not periodically hurl themselves off of cliffs and into the sea. Cyclical explosions in population do occasionally induce lemmings to attempt to migrate to areas of lesser population density. When such a migration occurs, some lemmings die by falling over cliffs or drowning in lakes or rivers. These deaths are not deliberate "suicide" attempts, however, but accidental deaths resulting from the lemmings' venturing into unfamiliar territories and being crowded and pushed over dangerous ledges. In fact, when the competition for food, space, or mates becomes too intense, lemmings are much more likely to kill each other than to kill themselves.

Disney's White Wilderness was filmed in Alberta, Canada, which is not a native habitat for lemmings and has no outlet to the sea. Lemmings were imported for use in the film, purchased from Inuit children by the filmmakers. The Arctic rodents were placed on a snow-covered turntable and filmed from various angles to produce a "migration" sequence; afterwards, the helpless creatures were transported to a cliff overlooking a river and herded into the water. White Wilderness does not depict an actual lemming migration — at no time are more than a few dozen lemmings ever shown on the screen at once. The entire sequence was faked using a handful of lemmings deceptively photographed to create the illusion of a large herd of migrating creatures.

Nine different photographers spent three years shooting and assembling footage for the various segments that comprise White Wilderness. It is not known whether Disney approved or knew about the activities of James R. Simon, the principal photographer for the lemmings sequence.

Nature documentaries are notoriously difficult to film, as wild animals are not terribly cooperative. Many nature shows and films of this era — including Disney's "True-Life Adventure" movies and TV's Wild Kingdom — staged events to capture exciting footage for their audiences. The sight of a few lemmings mistaking a lake or ocean for a stream and drowning after swimming out too far, or being pushed over a cliff during the frenzied rush of migration, has become the basis of a widespread belief that lemmings commit suicide en masse when their numbers grow too large.
Reply
post #25 of 33
9/26/05 at 8:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Randolph Carter
Walt Disney once made a snuff film?
Yes, it´s true!

We'll if we're counting animals, don't forget those unforgettable performances by a rat and a tortoise getting iced in "Cannibal Holicaust".

Most of the Animal whackings in "Faces of Death" were real stock industrial footage (unlike the human deaths).

And I seem to remember a Bunny getting iced in "Roger and Me"
Reply
post #26 of 33
9/26/05 at 11:20am
Didn't Roy Kinner die on the set of "Return of the Musketeers?"


If memory servers he fell off his horse.
Reply
post #27 of 33
9/26/05 at 5:30pm
Not movies, but how about John Ritter on "8 Simple Rules..." and Jon-Erik Hexum on "Cover Up".

And the original director of "Exorcist IV", John Frankenheimer (although he didn't die on the set).
Reply
post #28 of 33
10/7/05 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ Fischer
Dismissing their deaths as those of 'no-name' and therefore unimportant personalitites, especially while naming/honoring the similar fates of 'name' actors, is despicable behavior of a unique order.
Since I seem to have sparked this debate by using the term "no-name stunmen", allow me to retort.

I was in no way trying to say that what they did was without merit or undesereving of attention. In fact, my point was ironic - these guys, as you said yourself, often do the bits that we pay to see stars pretend to do. My point is that there aren't many stuntmen you can name and attribute to specific stunts. Vic Armstrong is probably the most famous non-Asian, and he's a 2nd unit guy now. Or maybe the late Richard Farnsworth. The fact is, until these guys die, move into choreography or become actors, you don't normally hear their names. I was trying to save words and stay on topic. Please, in future, do not put words in my mouth. If you have a problem with my wording or do not understand what I meant due to my use of words, please ask for clarification - don't act high and mighty and accuse me of inferring something I did not intend.

I admit, my usage here was perhaps misleading. But it was not inappropriate or deliberately offensive.

So fuck off.
Reply
post #29 of 33
10/7/05 at 12:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moltisanti
I'd like to take a second to pay my respects to stuntman Chris Lamon. He died due to an accident on the set of EXIT WOUNDS. Heaven needs stuntmen to.
Lethal Weapon has a dedication to a dead stuntman in it's credits. He was the albino guy who dropped down from a chain after Riggs ventilates him. Apparently he created that stunt mechanism for Stick where he did a free fall from a building with nothing to break his fall.
Reply
post #30 of 33
10/7/05 at 1:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sackley
So fuck off.
And you were doing so well.
Reply
post #31 of 33
10/7/05 at 1:17pm
I think his name is Bennie Dobbins, I remember seeing a special on him years ago. His last movie was RED HEAT.

I'll probably start a thread for this before it airs but I'll also mention here that next Thursday the E channel is going to broadcast the World Stuntman Awards. They're going to be giving special awards to Tarantino and Vic Armstrong (who should probably have some kind of honorary Oscar by now).
Reply
post #32 of 33
10/8/05 at 10:52pm
Quote:
Lethal Weapon has a dedication to a dead stuntman in it's credits. He was the albino guy who dropped down from a chain after Riggs ventilates him. Apparently he created that stunt mechanism for Stick where he did a free fall from a building with nothing to break his fall.
That was Dar Robinson.
Reply
post #33 of 33
10/9/05 at 10:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ Fischer
And you were doing so well.
That was just a little joke for my own amusement there, Russ. Sorry, had to be done.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Drafts & Lists
CHUD.com Community › Forums › THE CHEWERS › Drafts & Lists › Real actor deaths on movie sets