# Have people ever died on air? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251 "2003-06-07T04:20:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/41 "2003-06-09T10:03:47Z")
BTW, I emailed WPVI about it a few mins ago. Maybe they’ll respond. ---
**Author:** ![PhillySteak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@PhillySteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillySteak)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/42 "2003-06-09T12:20:34Z")
\ What was the joke? What’s the difference between Bud Lite and Budd Dwyer? You get a head on a Bud Lite. Or something… \ ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/43 "2003-06-09T12:46:16Z")
There was a comedian called Tommy Cooper, who was very famous over here in the sixties and seventies. He was an old music hall style comedian. He did a performance on a variety show called “Live at her Majesty’s” in 1984. It was being televised live Half way through his act, he had a severe heart attack, and dropped down dead on the stage. ---
**Author:** ![AuntPam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@AuntPam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntPam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/44 "2003-06-09T16:42:45Z")
During the mid '80s, I worked for WMHT, a public TV station in Schenectady, New York. We had a producer there named Nancy Norman (a former Romper Room hostess, nice lady, hard worker). She had done an interview show with local news figures some years previous. During a hotly contested mayoral election, she had both candidates, the incumbent and the challenger, in one evening for a live interview. The incumbent was an older, heavy set man. He didn’t look good when he walked onto the set, but Nancy did not anticipate what happened almost as soon as the show went on air. She introduced the candidates, then started the interview by turning to this man and asking a question. “Well, Nancy,” he started to answer, and his eyes rolled up in his head and he fell over backwards in his chair, which also went over backwards. Nancy described the ensuing scene by saying “First I just sat there for a second, with my mouth hanging open. Then, the director cut to a slide, and we started doing all the usual things including calling 911. The mayor’s opponent gave him CPR , but it was too late, apparently…” Now THERE’s a level of political generosity that you rarely see nowadays. I’m sorry I can only recall Nancy’s name—all this stuff happened before I got there. I don’t think there’s any tape of it. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/45 "2003-06-09T17:31:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*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. \*\* Ugh. I can still remember him pulling the gun out of the envelope. But I have to agree in part with **samclem**. It’s so hazy, I can’t remember whether I saw him shoot himself live or on the local channels’ report of it. (The local news I usually watched at the time, WNEP, never played the tape, but some other stations did.) I know, though, that at least _some_ of that press conference was shown live. Waiting for **dantheman** ’s confirmation, I guess. I know there is at least one website (and for obvious reasons, I’m not linking to it) where you can see a copy of the tape. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/46 "2003-06-09T17:33:41Z")
I may never hear back from them, unfortunately. So I’ll have to concede it’s at least possible it was shown on delay, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/47 "2003-06-09T17:45:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by doctordoowop \* > \*\*A few years ago baseball umpire John McSherry dropped dead of a heart attack during a game- but maybe game was not televised. \*\* It must have been televised. It was Opening Day. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/48 "2003-06-09T18:08:13Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. If **whack-a-mole** and I are thinking of the same guy, I remember hearing about him in a class last year. I think he actually lived. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/49 "2003-06-09T18:13:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bonzer \* > \*\*[Comedian Tommy Cooper on British TV.](http://smacbroon.com/ukhumour/library/weekly/aa100700a.htm) \*\* I actually saw this happen live on tv. You need to know that Tommy Cooper was a very slap-stick performer, so falling over mid sketch was not too unusual. But falling and not moving was strange. It took what seemed like many minutes before stange hands realized and pulled the curtain on him. It wasn’t until I sore news programmes afterwards that I learn’t he had died at that moment. It is quite chilling to realise no one knew for those few minutes whether he was joking by faliing over or not. ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/50 "2003-06-09T19:14:44Z")
> [@](#): > > That was R Budd Dwyer. It wasn’t live, but prerecorded. At least one news station showed the clip in its entirety; however HOLY CRAP!!! I’ve been wondering what the hell that vide was and the story behind it! I accidentally downloaded it once; some mofo had named it something far more innocent (“Cult\_Rise.mpg”, I believe) and unleashed it on a P2P network. I had never heard of the video before, and was SHOCKED when I saw what happened. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/51 "2003-06-09T19:19:13Z")
I thought of a potential fatality - isn’t Steve the Croc Hunter doing a live show soon, if he hasn’t already? ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/52 "2003-06-09T21:44:57Z")
On December 16th, 2002 20 year old University of Houston student and amateur rock climber Ryan John Hartley took on the Williams Tower, a skyscraper in Houston, freehanded. He scaled more than 20 stories up, in front of the view of freeway rush hour and live news helicopter footage. However, after a pause, he pushed off from his grip and fell to his death. News cameras managed to cut off their live feed merely moments before his fatal impact next to a city renowned water fountain. [More Info](http://glasssteelandstone.com/US/TX/HoustonWilliamsTower.html) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/53 "2003-06-09T23:29:03Z")
**dan** Thanks for accepting the fact that you almost certainly **didn’t** see Dwyer shoot himself on live tv. If you did, I’d have to ask _what_ were you doing as a high-school age student, home on a thursdays morning, watching a televised news-conference? People have tricky memories. I have often told stories about what I did as a kid, only to talk to my mother and she says “No, that’s not what you did. It was like this…” But every time this Dwyer thing comes up, _someone_ always remembers they saw it _live_. Usually, the person was a teen when it happened. I’m 99+% positive that it was _never_ shown on **live** tv. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/54 "2003-06-10T00:06:43Z")
60 Minutes showed footage of Jack Kevorkian euthanizing some terminal patient, which was what eventually sent him to jail. If he’d have rigged a button for the terminal guy to push to start the drugs he’d have been legally safe, he’d done that many times and always been clear. But that wasn’t enough for Dr. Jack. Of course, this wasn’t live, but they still showed the guy dying on prime time TV. There was also a case here in Seattle. A butoh performer was doing a dance performance hanging from a tall building. He hung there and did various moves for a few minutes, then his cable broke and he fell to his death. They didn’t show the impact on TV, just the cable breaking and him falling out of view of the camera. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Calculus_of_Logic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/55 "2003-06-10T00:23:42Z")
Does anybody remember a year or so ago when a major league umpire had a heart attack in the middle of a game? There was another umpire who died during a 1996 Cincinnatti game. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/56 "2003-06-10T03:55:46Z")
What was the date? All I remember is “the eighties.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/57 "2003-06-10T04:04:55Z")
Dwyer killed himself on Thursday, January 22, 1987. You were probably in 9th-11th grade. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/58 "2003-06-10T04:20:54Z")
> [@](#): > > There was another umpire who died during a 1996 Cincinnatti game. Already mentioned by **Zev** and others on the first page. I’m still not sure if it was live. I would think so. What I want to contribute about that incident is a piece that a writer from Cinci wrote: > [@](#): > > He saw replays of umpire John McSherry collapsing at home plate in front of 50,000 Opening Day fans. He saw the 51-year-old man try to stagger off the field. Then he saw some Cincinnati fans boo when the game was canceled. > “He was sad - and embarrassed,” says his mother, Vickie Harris. “He said he wanted to think of something to make the man’s family feel better and let them know that not everybody in Cincinnati felt that way.” From [http://www.enquirer.com/columns/pulfer/1996/05/052196\_lp.html](http://www.enquirer.com/columns/pulfer/1996/05/052196_lp.html) Fans. They can be the greatest, and they can be the worst. :o ---
**Author:** ![samboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@samboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samboy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/59 "2003-06-10T06:06:19Z")
Does anyone remember in “Bowling for Columbine” where there are a series of quick sub second clips shown. One of them (from memory) shows a man, at what I thought at the time was a gun conference or something, smiling as he puts a gun in his mouth (thinking it was not loaded I presume) then it goes off. From the still pics of that guy Dwyer killing himself I dont think it was that incident. Does anyone remember that bit in the film? Or know who it was who blew his face off? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Sherbet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@Mr\_Sherbet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Sherbet)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251/60 "2003-06-10T06:48:33Z")
From what i remember from Bowling, that was the Bud Dwyer dude. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-people-ever-died-on-air/180251.md?page=4)