Sergio Aragones, the MAD artist, played some kind of mild prank on Feldman earlier that day and apparently felt responsible for his subsequent death. But frankly, wouldn’t we all like to check out courtesy of one of Sergio’s practical jokes?
River Phoenix died while filming Interview With The Vampire; his part was recast using Christian Slater. He was also halfway through an indie film called Dark Blood, which was scrapped.
they could have done the same with Heath Ledger…
To go a little further, Trail of the Pink Pantherwas made by Blake Edwards using unused footage of Peter Sellers from The Pink Panther Strikes Again some two years after Sellers’ death.
David Nivin was too sick to finish his Pink Panther movie. Rich Little had to dub his voice.
I always wondered what Rich Little actually did for a living.
Pedro Armendáriz was terminally ill with cancer during “From Russia with Love”. I think they were able to get most of his scenes in by the time he committed suicide, but I am not sure if he had wrapped everything up.
I hear he’s supposed to be a comedian of some kind. I think it’s of the unfunny kind.
I was going to mention the Dark Knight but then saw post # 23
Roy Kinnear died after falling off a horse during the filming of * The Return of the Musketeers*. They used stand-ins and dubbing to complete his character’s scenes.
Not a movie, but Gary Holton died of a drug overdose during the shooting of the second series of British show Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Scenes were rewritten so that his character Wayne would be up to something in the next room or otherwise out of shot.
Roger Delgado (Doctor Who’s first “The Master”) was killed in a car accident while filming Bell Of Tibet. The film was never completed.
David Rappaport killed himself after starting work on an episodeof Star Trek TNG. The role was recast, and completed scenes were reshot.
They did use a painfully obvious body double as well (he had such a distinctive appearance), and cribbed dialogue from previously shot scenes.