# Films where actors died during filming. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495 "2007-04-17T17:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/1 "2007-04-17T17:22:46Z")
A bit of a morbid thread perhaps, but I’m trying to get some examples of movies where starring actors died during filming – either on set or off, but the movies went on to be completed. Any “giveaway” scenes where you can tell a stand-in was used, or previous scenes reused, etc., are a bonus. Two that I can think off straight off: _The Crow_ (Brandon Lee) _Gladiator_ (Oliver Reed) Any others? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/2 "2007-04-17T17:23:21Z")
Victor Morrow, _The Twilight Zone_ Bela Lugosi, _Plan Nine from Outer Space_ ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/3 "2007-04-17T17:31:35Z")
Orson Welles - Transformers: The Movie (original 80s cartoon obviously) Leonard Nimoy (who also played Galvatron) overdubbed many of his uncompleted lines with the help of some audio tricks and the filmmakers admit they don’t know which lines belong to Welles and which belong to Nimoy. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/4 "2007-04-17T17:32:16Z")
John Candy died in Mexico while filming Wagons east. I didn’t care for the movie so I can’t give any details on stand ins used. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/5 "2007-04-17T17:35:11Z")
I don’t know if you’d count this, but Superman Returns used canned footage of Marlon Brando as Jor-El (from the first movie) long after Brando’s death. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/6 "2007-04-17T17:36:07Z")
Natalie Wood died during the filming of [Brainstorm](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorm_(1983_film)#Natalie_Wood.27s_death). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/7 "2007-04-17T17:45:40Z")
If you count TV, when Nancy Marchand died during filming of **The Sopranos** they had some awkward edited bits of her before her character died. I wish they had just gotten the phone call instead of what they ended up doing. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/8 "2007-04-17T17:47:53Z")
[QUOTE=drm] John Candy died in Mexico while filming Wagons east. I didn’t care for the movie so I can’t give any details on stand ins used. [/QUOTE] If memory serves they rewrote the movie to have John Candy’s character die. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/9 "2007-04-17T18:04:20Z")
**Vic Morrow** died along with two other Asian actors while filming a scene for [Twilight Zone - the Movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086491/trivia) ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/10 "2007-04-17T18:04:53Z")
Gloria Foster, who played The Oracle in the Matrix movies died during filming of the second installment. ---
**Author:** ![Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/11 "2007-04-17T18:08:16Z")
Did any of those mentioned above (with the exception of Brandon Lee and Vic Morrow) actually die on the movie set? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/12 "2007-04-17T18:09:33Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/13 "2007-04-17T18:09:46Z")
James Dean’s fatal car wreck on Sep/30/55 was after principal photography for _Giant_ was completed, but some of his lines in the scene where he’s alone and drunk in the large dining hall were dubbed by another actor. I believe the actor mentioned most often is Nick Adams. [This link](http://smu.edu/smunews/giant/lore.asp#) supports that version. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/14 "2007-04-17T18:10:05Z")
Marilyn Monroe died during filming of _Something’s Got To Give_. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/15 "2007-04-17T18:25:18Z")
[QUOTE=ArchitectChore] Did any of those mentioned above (with the exception of Brandon Lee and Vic Morrow) actually die on the movie set? [/QUOTE] Not a movie, but Jon-Eric Hexum (sp?) died on the set of the television series _Close-Up_ of a self-inflicted point-blank gunshot wound. Hexum had mistakedly though blanks ejected no material from the barrel. He put a prop gun to his head and pulled the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/16 "2007-04-17T18:52:52Z")
If by “during filming” you mean “before release” there are plenty of examples – Pedro Armandariz, for example, died of cancer before the release of **From Russia With Love**. I suspect you don’t, though. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/17 "2007-04-17T18:58:02Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] If by “during filming” you mean “before release” there are plenty of examples – Pedro Armandariz, for example, died of cancer before the release of **From Russia With Love**. I suspect you don’t, though. [/QUOTE] I should have been more specific – I really meant “before filming was complete” such that the movie had to be either rewritten or completed using stand-ins etc. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/18 "2007-04-17T19:15:06Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] Bela Lugosi, _Plan Nine from Outer Space_ [/QUOTE] Not really – Lugosi was already dead when Ed Wood started crafting (if that’s the word for it) the movie around a few snippets of Lugosi footage. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/19 "2007-04-17T19:15:34Z")
Marty Feldman died during filming of _Yellowbeard_, at the age of 49. from the imdb: > [@](#): > > Died in Mexico City of shellfish poisoning on the last day of filming a scene from Yellowbeard (1983), in which he was supposed to die. A double completed the death scene. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495/20 "2007-04-17T19:27:02Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] Not a movie, but Jon-Eric Hexum (sp?) died on the set of the television series _Close-Up_ of a self-inflicted point-blank gunshot wound. Hexum had mistakedly though blanks ejected no material from the barrel. He put a prop gun to his head and pulled the trigger. [/QUOTE] I think it was spelled “Jon-Erik.” A very handsome man he was, but from all I’ve read, not very bright. I know his heart was transplanted. I wonder if there’s any way to learn if it’s still beating inside someone’s chest? If so, then he’s not _entirely_ dead, even today. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-where-actors-died-during-filming/400495.md?page=2)