On live television, that is.
Yes, in SoCal we had a guy who led the cops on a high speed chase, then stopped on an overpass and unfurled a banner expressing his outrage with his HMO, then shot himself in the head.
Carried live on all three networks.
Close up and personal.
Some boxers were killed by a punch–not sure if they were dead in the ring. A few years ago baseball umpire John McSherry dropped dead of a heart attack during a game- but maybe game was not televised. Oswald was shot on live TV-not sure how long ,if at all he lived, after.
There was a semi-famous incident that prompted a lot of dialog on the role of the media.
Maybe 20 years or so ago some guy alerted the media that he was going to martyr himself for some cause. TV cameras came out and filmed the guy pouring gasoline over his head and then setting himself on fire.
It became an issue because many felt the cameraperson should have dropped the camera and prevented the guy from killing himself.
There was an American guy, I believe a politician who shot himself in the mouth back in the 70’s or 80’s. I don’t recall any of the details about it however…
I’ve seen at least one suicide on the air. A guy (in Milwaukee I think, but I could be wrong) jumped off a broadcasting antanae and the film crew caught the whole thing.
That was R Budd Dwyer. It wasn’t live, but prerecorded. At least one news station showed the clip in its entirety; however.
Lee Harvey Oswald would be the most famous case, but Ruby’s shot didn’t kill him instantly. He died afterwards at Parkland Hospital.
This Snopes article covers a number of deaths while performing, though most don’t involve television. R. Budd Dwyer’s suicide is probably the one wooba is thinking of. It was the subject of the song Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter.
The suicide of R. Budd Dwyer was never aired. Yes, footage exists, and, yes, you can download it, but it wasn’t live, and, again, it wasn’t aired.
We might get some central europeans in here to straighten me out if I’ve got this wrong, but here it goes:
Nicolae Ceausescu (along iwth his wife) was executed on live television in Romania after the fall of his regime in 1989. It appearently got huge ratings.
Oh, the gasoline soaked suicide Whack-a-Mole was refering to more than likely was one involving a budhist monk in vietnam protesting the war. Other memorable on-air deaths from the Vietnam War not involving U.S. soldiers (memorable b/c I was born in 1979 and I’ve seen these all on t.v.) were the cameraman who was shot during combat and his camera hit the ground so that every american watching the news over dinner got to see his death rattle, and the South Vietnamese offical shooting the captive in the temple right in front of an american news crew.
And that generation complains about the violence their kids are watchin on t.v. today!?!
Live TV? Watch much auto racing?
Dale Earnhardt is probably the most famous example, but there have been dozens of fatal accidents which had been broadcast live during these events.
D
It most certainly was aired. I watched it. I grew up in the Harrisburg area and the local TV stations showed it on the evening news. I remember it vividly. I was a kid at the time and it gave me nightmares.
Hmm. Not only that, but it appears it actually was aired live.
*Italicization mine
Folks jumping from the burning WTC was carried live
A bunch are listed here:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/onstage.htm
Most facinating is the story of Chris Chubbuck, an news anchor who shot herself in the head on live TV…
The best known case of a man dying on the set of a TV show was J.I. Rodale, the publisher and health-food enthusiast, who died while being interviewed on the Dick Cavett Show, moments after telling Dick that he was the healthiest man alive, and would surely live to be 100.
HOWEVER… and this is a BIG “however,” that episode was never broadcast. And yet, I must have met a dozen people in my life who insist they saw it happen. And from what I’ve read, people come up to Dick Cavett all the time, SWEARING they saw ROdale die on his show!
No, this was in the US and only a few years ago. I’ll see if I can find a reference to it.
It was in Texas, IIRC, and the guy didn’t die or didn’t die right away. He was some kind of mentally disturbed street preacher, IIRC.