# Actor who shot himself in the head with a prop gun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-who-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-prop-gun/230293 "2004-02-21T00:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-who-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-prop-gun/230293/21 "2004-02-22T14:25:16Z")
I’ve read too that it wansn’t so much that Hexum was intellectually dumb (prop gun episode aside), just naive and a bit of a doofus. Sort of OT, but if I believed in curses, I’d say COVER UP was a show to avoid. All three of the leads are dead or gravely injured. JON-ERIK HEXUM: Dead–Prop Gun Accident ANTONY HAMILTON (his replacement): Dead–AIDS JENNIFER O’NEIL: Alive, but she has accidentally shot herself, and on another thread where I mentioned stars of recent shows who were dead, a poster pointed out that bad luck had dogged her her entire career, including being dropped by John Wayne on concrete or something like that. I hope Richard Anderson and Mykelti Williamson are doing okay. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-who-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-prop-gun/230293/22 "2004-02-22T14:32:00Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I like GOOD movies, irrespective of subject matter. I like “Spartacus”; I hated “Gladiator.” Correct me if I am wrong, but I think **Cargogal** was quoting from Peter Graves in “Airplane.” ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-who-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-prop-gun/230293/23 "2004-02-22T22:32:33Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > I’ve read too that it wansn’t so much that Hexum was intellectually dumb (prop gun episode aside), just naive and a bit of a doofus. That sounds like what my friend was saying. She never mentioned that he was “dumb” as in a low IQ, but what he was a goofus/doofus type of guy. And naive, yes. (She worked with him on his _first_ show, where his naivete was probably at its most pronounced. I remember her talking about how “new” it all was to him.) And the accident was one more (dumb, tragic) example of this. I thought [Antony Hamilton](http://antonyhamilton.tripod.com/thewalls.htm) was so handsome as well. I really liked him. I forgot that he died of AIDS. Damn. I hate hearing about stuff like that. And I didn’t know about Jennifer O’Neill’s accident either. That’s very sad. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-who-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-prop-gun/230293/24 "2004-02-23T01:07:20Z")
> [@Caprese](#): > > Correct me if I am wrong, but I think **Cargogal** was quoting from Peter Graves in “Airplane.” Sorry. My previous post will explain why I didn’t recognize the quote. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-who-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-prop-gun/230293/25 "2004-02-23T01:39:38Z")
All a matter of taste I guess. I don’t think _Airplane_ is a good movie, I think it’s a great movie. Also I have to defend Hexum’s intelligence. I think he just thought " Oh, it’s only a blank cartridge and it can’t hurt me." Bet a lot of people would assume the same think. I don’t think it qualifies as stupidity. Ant it wasn’t the wadding that killed him. The compression from the blank shot a fragment of skull into his brain. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-who-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-prop-gun/230293/26 "2004-02-23T02:35:28Z")
For those of you still sad about Hexum’s death, it may make you feel a little better to know that his heart was successfully transplanted after his death (no cite, sorry, but I remember hearing it at the time). So maybe part of him is still alive out there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-who-shot-himself-in-the-head-with-a-prop-gun/230293.md?page=1)