# Movies in which the actor died during production **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720 "2008-01-23T21:52:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/1 "2008-01-23T21:52:17Z")
Heath Ledger was working on a movie called :The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" at the time of his death. The people who are making the movie have said that they’re not sure how they will deal with this in terms of finishing the movie. It got me to thinking, have there been any other situations where an actor/actress has died while in the middle of making a movie? And how did they deal with it. Do they use a body double, or scrap the entire movie and start over. I can only think of two other cases, one of the Harry Potter movies and the other was a guy that was killed in a helicopter crash during filming. It was Vic Morrow and the movie was “Twilight Zone”. I think that the scene in which he was killed was the final necessary scene for his segment of the movie, so I don’t think it affected the movie that much, although it was tragic. Not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this, so apologies if it’s not. Eric ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/2 "2008-01-23T21:54:30Z")
The actress who played the Oracle in the _Matrix_ series died during the production of the third film. They just got a new actress to play the character and gave her a couple of lines about how her code had been corrupted to alter her appearance or something. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/3 "2008-01-23T21:58:35Z")
Brandon Lee was accidentally shot and killed during the filming of _The Crow_. With only 8 days of shooting to go, the director, with the blessings of Brandon’s fiancee and mother, finished filming with stunt-double, and friend of Brandon, Chad Stahelski playing the part. Special effects were later used to put Brandon’s face onto Chad’s body. Great movie [Wiki Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lee) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/4 "2008-01-23T21:59:01Z")
[Bela Lugosi, sorta.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bela_Lugosi#Death_and_posthumous_performance) > [@](#): > > One of Lugosi’s roles was in a movie released after he was dead. Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space features footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double. Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, for a planned vampire picture but was unable to find financing for the project. When he later conceived Plan 9, Wood wrote the script to incorporate the Lugosi footage and hired his wife’s chiropractor to double for Lugosi in additional shots. The double is thinner than Lugosi, and in every shot covers the lower half of his face with his cape, as Lugosi sometimes did in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. As Leonard Maltin put it in early editions of his movies guide book, “Lugosi died during production, and it shows.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/5 "2008-01-23T22:02:36Z")
Not a movie, but the actress who played Tony Soprano’s mother died during filming and they had her die in the show, but had a pieced together scene with her before her film death that looked really, really fake. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/6 "2008-01-23T22:03:48Z")
Oliver Reed died during the making of **Gladiator**. The director used a double, earlier outtakes, and digital magic to fill in the missing scenes Reed was supposed to be in. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/7 "2008-01-23T22:05:26Z")
Aaliyah died shortly after principal photography finished on Queen of the Damned. The post-production voice dubbing was done by her brother. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/8 "2008-01-23T22:08:57Z")
== ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/9 "2008-01-23T22:11:06Z")
Bert Lahr died during the filming of “The Night They Raided Minsky’s” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/10 "2008-01-23T22:11:38Z")
**Vic Morrow** was killed during the filming of _Twilight Zone: The Movie._ There was even a band named after the event: “Vic Morrow’s Head” ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/11 "2008-01-23T22:14:27Z")
Stunt pilot Paul Mantz was killed during the filming of _Flight of the Phoenix_. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/12 "2008-01-23T22:22:08Z")
John Candy died while filming Wagons East. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/13 "2008-01-23T22:22:41Z")
[QUOTE=FlightlessBird] Brandon Lee was accidentally shot and killed during the filming of _The Crow_. With only 8 days of shooting to go, the director, with the blessings of Brandon’s fiancee and mother, finished filming with stunt-double, and friend of Brandon, Chad Stahelski playing the part. Special effects were later used to put Brandon’s face onto Chad’s body. Great movie [Wiki Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lee) [/QUOTE] The same fate befell Brandon’s dad, Bruce. He filmed the fight scenes for _Game of Death_, then took a break to film _Enter the Dragon_, and intended to return to finish the former. He died before filming could resume. The film was reshot around a new storyline of Bruce’s character being shot on set and faking his own death, and used the original fight scenes. (Also features Bruce wailing on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - has to be seen to be believed!) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/14 "2008-01-23T22:23:20Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] **Vic Morrow** was killed during the filming of _Twilight Zone: The Movie._ There was even a band named after the event: “Vic Morrow’s Head” [/QUOTE] The delightfully sick joke that went around: Q:\* How did they know Vic Morrow had dandruff?\* A:\* They found his head and shoulders in the bushes.\* ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/15 "2008-01-23T22:25:14Z")
Marilyn Monroe’s death brought an end to production of the somewhat ironically titled “Something’s Gotta Give,” although if this Wikipedia article is accurate, the production may have been doomed anyway. > **[Something's Got to Give](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something%27s_Got_to_Give)** > > Something's Got to Give is an unfinished American feature film shot in 1962, directed by George Cukor for 20th Century Fox and starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. A remake of My Favorite Wife (1940), a screwball comedy starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, it was Monroe's last work. > Principal photography began on April 23, 1962, without Monroe present on set, who had said she suffered from bouts of illness. Monroe did arrive on set to film several scenes on select days in Ma... > [@](#): > > It was Vic Morrow and the movie was “Twilight Zone”. I think that the scene in which he was killed was the final necessary scene for his segment of the movie, so I don’t think it affected the movie that much, although it was tragic. His character (a virulent bigot) was to be redeemed in the film and rescue two Vietnamese children (the child actors were also killed). The version that was eventually released has him being transported to a concentration camp. I saw it in it’s theatrical release and it was really creepy, and not in a good way. ETA: I see the title of “Something’s Got\_to\_Give” was more grammatical than I. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/16 "2008-01-23T22:26:04Z")
[QUOTE=drm] John Candy died while filming Wagons East. [/QUOTE] yeah he was found dead in his trailer on the set. The change that was made to the movie was that Candy’s character was found dead in his wagon. That always struck me as odd. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/17 "2008-01-23T22:34:50Z")
Natalie Wood was in the middle of filming a movie called [Brainstorm](http://imdb.com/title/tt0085271/) when she drowned. The final scene with her was somehow ‘constructed from scenes shot earlier’ (according to IMDB’s trivia page for this movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/18 "2008-01-23T22:53:27Z")
[QUOTE=rostfrei] Heath Ledger was working on a movie called :The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" at the time of his death. The people who are making the movie have said that they’re not sure how they will deal with this in terms of finishing the movie. [/QUOTE] That was Terry Gilliam’s new movie too. That guy has the worst luck. Several years ago he had another movie, **The Man Who Killed Don Quixote** , shut down because the lead actor got sick, and was never able to complete it. There’s a fascinating documentary called [Lost In La Mancha](http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/lostinlamancha.htm) which was supposed to be your average “making of” behind-the-scenes feature, and ended up being an epic story of one man’s Job-like trials trying to get his movie made. Poor Terry. According to [this article](http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=41159): > [@](#): > > crew members on the Vancouver set of Heath Ledger’s new fantasy, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, were sent home after the actor’s death yesterday. > > “I just got the call [Tuesday] saying everyone was being let go,” the on-set source said. “We were supposed to start this weekend, but obviously they fired everyone today. They don’t know yet what they are doing with the footage that was already shot,” the source added. > > Ledger was on a break from filming Terry Gilliam’s $30 million indie film when he died Tuesday. Shooting had begun in London last December. He was last photographed on set Jan. 19. > > Variety says that blue-screen work was due to start next week in Vancouver and continue until early March. > > The producers have yet to issue any statement about how or whether they plan to proceed without Ledger. > > Ledger was the biggest name in an ensemble cast including Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole and Tom Waits. It’s the story of an ancient travelling show which arrives in modern London with a magical mirror that can transport its audience into fantastical realms of the imagination. > > Plummer plays the impresario Doctor Parnassus, and Ledger took the role of a mysterious outsider who joins the troupe on a quest through parallel worlds to save the doctor’s daughter (Cole) from the clutches of the devil (Waits). That sounds fantastic! But so did **The Man Who Killed Don Quixote** , and we may never get to see either one. This was a bit of interesting news of a never-to-be project: > [@](#): > > Ledger’s death also came as he was working on what would have been his feature directing debut, an adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel “The Queen’s Gambit,” with British writer/producer Allan Scott. > > The leading role of a young female chess prodigy had been offered to Oscar nominee Ellen Page. Ledger, himself a highly rated chess player, was due to play a supporting role. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/19 "2008-01-23T22:56:54Z")
Had Chris Farley finished all of his shots in “Almost Heros” before he died? In any case he had already laid down some of the voice tracks for “Shrek.” Dreamworks was forced to replace him (w/Mike Myers). ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720/20 "2008-01-23T23:21:06Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] That was Terry Gilliam’s new movie too. That guy has the worst luck. Several years ago he had another movie, **The Man Who Killed Don Quixote** , shut down because the lead actor got sick, and was never able to complete it. [/quote] Orson Welles also left behind an unfinished adaptation of Don Quixote that he had worked on for decades.\* I’ve read that he finally gave up after (here’s where I bring it back to the OP) the deaths of two of his actors. I can’t find a cite to verify that last bit, but [here’s](http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/welles.html) an interesting page on many of Welles’ unfinished projects. \*Although some of the footage was posthumously cobbled together into a film called “Don Quijote de Orson Welles,” no one seems to regard this as being anything like what Welles intended. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-actor-died-during-production/434720.md?page=2)