# Difficult actors on TV shows whose characters are killed off
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 7, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674 "2025-01-07T14:50:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/1 "2025-01-07T14:50:20Z")
The [Community and Pierce Hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-and-pierce-hawthorne/1012544) thread got me thinking, there’s a long tradition of killing off characters on TV shows, often in creative and embarrassing ways, when the actors quit after a conflict, demand too much money and / or amenities, or are just major pains in the butt.
Here are 5 I can think off just off the top of my head, without googling at all, because sometimes I like to exercise the ol’ rusty memory banks. So my memory is incomplete or may be wrong in spots. Feel free to correct me. We’'ll start off with Chevy:
**Actor:** Chevy Chase
**Character name:** Pierce Hawthorne
**TV show:** Community
**Reason for leaving / being kicked off show:** Legendarily difficult actor to work with.
**Manner of character death:** Masturbated to death?
**Actor:** Maclean Stevenson
**Character name:** Henry Blake
**TV show:** M\*A\*S\*H
**Reason for leaving / being kicked off show:** Decided (or was convinced) that he was too big to be a supporting character and needed his own starring vehicle.
**Manner of character death:** Plane shot down when leaving Korea.
**Actor:** Charlie Sheen
**Character name:**??
**TV show:** Two and a Half Men
**Reason for leaving / being kicked off show:** Being Charlie Sheen
**Manner of character death:** Piano fell on him? Or something equally cartoonish.
**Actor:** Isaac Hayes
**Character name:** Chef
**TV show:** South Park
**Reason for leaving / being kicked off show:** Became a Scientologist, started publicly badmouthing the show
**Manner of character death:** Don’t remember exactly, but extremely embarrassing
**Actor:** Rosanne Barr
**Character name:** Rosanne Connors
**TV show:** Rosanne
**Reason for leaving / being kicked off show:** Generally difficult to work with; making racist public statements was last straw.
**Manner of character death:** Opiate overdose? Didn’t really watch the show.
What else ya got?
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### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/2 "2025-01-07T15:01:59Z")
No detailed analysis on his many roles over the years, but I saw the thread title and immediately thought this would be a thread about Sean Bean 😜.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/3 "2025-01-07T15:05:47Z")
Thanks, I amended the title from the more generic ‘Actors on TV shows whose characters are killed off’ to ‘Difficult actors on TV shows whose characters are killed off’, since that’s more what I was thinking of, not so much characters who are killed off because of plot arcs.
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### Author:  [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/4 "2025-01-07T15:07:20Z")
Dr. Drake Remoray on _Days of Our Lives_ was killed off by falling down an elevator shaft. The actor, Joey Tribbiani, apparently badmouthed the writing team in _TV Guide_.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/5 "2025-01-07T15:09:44Z")
Ha, interesting meta-example there: a character’s character killed off because the actor who played a character who was an actor on one TV show badmouthed another TV show on which he played a character 😆
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/6 "2025-01-07T15:14:33Z")
> [@Sauron](#):
>
> Dr. Drake Remoray on _Days of Our Lives_ was killed off by falling down an elevator shaft. The actor, Joey Tribbiani, apparently badmouthed the writing team in _TV Guide_.
> [@solost](#):
>
> Ha, interesting meta-example there: a character’s character killed off because the actor who played a character who was an actor on one TV show badmouthed another TV show on which he played a character 😆
I believe something similar happened to Poochie on “The Itchy & Scratchy Show” after his voice actor insisted on reading lines he wrote himself with his own two hands.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/7 "2025-01-07T15:16:37Z")
Wow, I didn’t expect one, let alone two meta-examples of characters’ characters being killed off, but I love it.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/8 "2025-01-07T15:26:16Z")
There were two actresses on _Lost_ whose characters were killed off because of DUIs. I think there were other characters on that show who had to be killed off because the isolation of living in Hawaii away from their friends, agents, and future job opportunities in LA was more than those actors could stand.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/9 "2025-01-07T15:31:15Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> I think there were other characters on that show who had to be killed off because the isolation of living in Hawaii away from their friends, agents, and future job opportunities in LA was more than those actors could stand.
I remember there was at least one other actor who left the show early for that reason- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (I had to break down and google that name). From the below link:
> Akinnuoye-Agbaje hated living in Hawaii, where _Lost_ was filmed and all the cast members had a residence, and wanted to return to his native England.
> **[Why Lost Killed Mr. Eko So Early (& What The Original Plan Was)](https://screenrant.com/lost-tv-show-mr-eko-early-death-original-plan/)**
>
> Sometimes plans change.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/10 "2025-01-07T15:42:38Z")
Michael O’Hare on _Babylon 5_ was difficult to work with - not through any fault of his own, but because he was suffering from worsening schizophrenia. After starring as the show’s lead actor for a season, he asked to leave, and then returned a season later to have his character metamorphose into an alien and get sent thousands of years back into the past to become their great prophet and founder of their religion. As killing off characters go, it was pretty elegantly done.
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/11 "2025-01-07T15:46:14Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> I think there were other characters on that show who had to be killed off because the isolation of living in Hawaii away from their friends, agents, and future job opportunities in LA was more than those actors could stand.
Similar to the fate of the lead actor of Death in Paradise, the Inspector played by Ben Miller (a Brit) was murdered on the first show of the 3rd season because he just didn’t want to be stuck in the Caribbean, away from family and friends, for another production season. It’s not that he was difficult, but wanted out. Brilliantly, the first job of the new Inspector on that episode was to solve that murder (and prove himself to the Commissioner and the other 4 members of the police force).
Also, memorably, Sasha Alexander’s character from NCIS was killed off because she wanted out, doing the show was too much work.
Maybe “characters killed off because the actor wanted out of the show” should be a separate category.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/12 "2025-01-07T15:47:43Z")
_Transparent_ ended with a one-off musical episode in which the Pfeffermans were shown dealing with the death of Maura - whose actor, Jeffrey Tambor, had left the show due to sexual harassment allegations.
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### Author:  [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/13 "2025-01-07T15:48:39Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> There were two actresses on _Lost_ whose characters were killed off because of DUIs. I think there were other characters on that show who had to be killed off because the isolation of living in Hawaii away from their friends, agents, and future job opportunities in LA was more than those actors could stand.
They were both brought back though as guests in later seasons. Harold Perrineau said he was canned because he asked for more depth in his character, and to be honest I was tired of him yelling, “Walt! Where are you! I have to find my son!” every time I saw his face.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/14 "2025-01-07T15:48:44Z")
I just remembered the actor who played Carla’s hockey player husband on _Cheers_. He made a crack in an interview about how awful it was to have to kiss Rhea Perlman as part of his job so the writers had his character run over by a Zamboni.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/15 "2025-01-07T15:49:58Z")
Wasn’t that Jay Thomas? I think he was a DJ in NY on 99X back in the 70s before he became an actor. I used to love his show back in the stone age.
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### Author:  [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/16 "2025-01-07T15:56:12Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#):
>
> believe something similar happened to Poochie on “The Itchy & Scratchy Show” after his voice actor insisted on reading lines he wrote himself with his own two hands.
In real life, Ned Flanders’ wife was killed off because the actress who voiced her had a pay dispute.
> [@](#):
>
> Maude was voiced by [Marcia Mitzman Gaven](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Mitzman_Gaven) [in the episode where she dies] after regular voice actor [Maggie Roswell](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Roswell) had left the show over a pay dispute, and the producers decided to kill off the character and make Ned Flanders [a single father](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_parent) to open up for new storylines.
> **[Alone Again, Natura-Diddily](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_Again,_Natura-Diddily)**
>
> "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" is the fourteenth episode of the eleventh season of the American television series The Simpsons, and marks the final regular appearance of the character Maude Flanders. The episode aired on Fox on February 13, 2000. In the episode, she is killed in an accident while watching an auto race, devastating Ned Flanders and prompting Homer to find a new woman for his grieving friend. After a series of unsuccessful dates, Ned begins to question his faith in God. However, ...
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/17 "2025-01-07T15:59:43Z")
> [@RitterSport](#):
>
> Wasn’t that Jay Thomas?
It was, indeed.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/18 "2025-01-07T15:59:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Michael O’Hare on _Babylon 5_ was difficult to work with - not through any fault of his own, but because he was suffering from worsening schizophrenia.
Interesting, I hadn’t heard that. I wasn’t really a watcher of that show though.
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Maybe “characters killed off because the actor wanted out of the show” should be a separate category.
No, that’s fine. The only exception I’d make is, as when @FlikTheBlue mentioned Sean Bean, not characters who are killed off TV shows strictly as part of the plot, for example Bean’s character on Game of Thrones. Only characters who are killed off due to real-life issues with the actors.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/19 "2025-01-07T16:04:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Michael O’Hare on _Babylon 5_ was difficult to work with - not through any fault of his own, but because he was suffering from worsening schizophrenia.
What’s more, the full details of what had happened weren’t made public for nearly 20 years. It was only after O’Hare’s death in 2012 that J. Michael Straczynski (creator and showrunner for _Babylon 5_) revealed what had been going on during the show’s first season, and why he largely wrote O’Hare’s character out of the show.
It was clear that JMS had a lot of respect and affection for O’Hare, despite the difficulties, and had promised to keep it a secret while the actor was still alive.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/20 "2025-01-07T16:15:59Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Also, memorably, Sasha Alexander’s character from NCIS was killed off because she wanted out, doing the show was too much work.
That’s odd, I did google this and that is the exact reason she publicly gave for leaving NCIS, but didn’t she immediately then get on Rizzoli and Isles, another network series? I would think one series would be about as much workload as another. I wonder if there was another reason she didn’t state publicly-- there was some bad blood between some of the other actors on NCIS.
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