# Murdered on stage **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254 "2003-03-30T19:16:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/1 "2003-03-30T19:16:56Z")
I remember when I was about five years old, my mother told me the the Beatles would never play again because John Lennon had been shot. She didn’t know much about the murder, so when I pressed her for details as to how and why he was killed, she just told me that a crazed fan had done it and speculated that it was done during a live performance. I didn’t find out until much later that he was actually shot outside his home. But the incident got me thinking the past twenty years or so: has there ever been a case where a relatively high-profile performer has been murdered during a live public performance? (Brandon Lee doesn’t count; that was an accident and was done on a closed set.) ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/2 "2003-03-30T19:36:37Z")
I think Houdini died from injurys suffered on stage. And Lennon was killed outside of his recording studio. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/3 "2003-03-30T19:48:21Z")
Wrong on both accounts, **Splanky**. Lennon was shot outside his apartment building, The Dakota, after returning from a recording studio where he had been mixing singles from his latest album. Houdini died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix caused when some McGill students met him backstage in his dressing room following a performance in Montreal. Houdini challenged one to punch him as hard as he could in the stomach as a test of strength. Houdini, not fully ready, winced at the blow, and experienced increasing pains that led to his collapse a week later. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/4 "2003-03-30T19:48:57Z")
No, I think Houdini was killed _between_ performances when an enthusiastic fan, who had heard that Houdini could tolerate heavy blows, punched him in the stomach without warning. And I think Lennon was killed outside his house, not his recording studio. But anyway, a private recording studio does not a public performance make. ---
**Author:** ![friggae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/45deac/32.png) [@friggae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friggae)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/5 "2003-03-30T19:50:54Z")
I don’t know about “high-profile,” and I don’t know about “murder,” but that guy from Great White died in that Rhode Island nightclub fire. ---
**Author:** ![mozart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mozart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozart)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/6 "2003-03-30T23:50:27Z")
Re: Houdini: Your close Walloon & Psychonaut. The visiting student backstage in Montreal, whose last name was Gordon asked Houdini if he could punch him in the stomach. Harry who was reading his mail and talking to the students at the same time didn’t catch what the kid said. He turned to him and said " Yes, what?’ The kid punched him with alarming speed as soon as he heard “yes…”. Later after Houdini’s death, American police asked the Canadian police to question Gordon. They did so and it was declared an accidental death. Gordon returned to his home in Vancouver and disappeared from history. ---
**Author:** ![Simbelmyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Simbelmyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simbelmyne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/7 "2003-03-31T00:40:33Z")
[http://www.snopes.com/spoons/noose/dead.htm](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/noose/dead.htm) Redd Foxx (died 11 October 1991) Actor/comedian Redd Foxx underwent a heart attack on the set of The Royal Family, a new sitcom he was to appear in. Best known for his curmudgeonly role in Sanford and Son, this time it really was the big one, Elizabeth. Brandon Lee (died 31 March 1993) A stunt gone wrong during the filming of The Crow cost the son of Bruce Lee his life. A blank fired from a .44 magnum revolver felled him. He died hours later in hospital. The metal tip of one of the dummy bullets had somehow pulled loose from its brass casing. When the dummies were unloaded and replaced with blanks, the metal tip remained behind in the gun’s cylinder. As soon as the blank went off, its explosive force propelled the dummy tip through the gun barrel – and into Lee’s body. ---
**Author:** ![Winsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Winsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winsling)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/8 "2003-03-31T00:52:12Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/houdini.htm) claims that Houdini’s appendicitis couldn’t have been caused by the blow. On the page that **Sibelmyne** provided, there were a lot of heart attacks, accidents and strokes (Oh my!) but only one murder: > [@](#): > > Antario Teodoro Filho (died 2 January 1998) > During a live show, this Brazilian radio presenter and local politician was shot dead by a gunman who burst into the studio. He was hit by 10 bullets fired from two revolvers. Hal ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/9 "2003-03-31T01:14:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Splanky \* > \*\*And Lennon was killed outside of his recording studio. \*\* No…he was called outside the Dakota apartment building where he lived. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/10 "2003-03-31T01:19:02Z")
_note to self_ read all of every response before posting. My apologies to **Walloon**. ---
**Author:** ![Antimanics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@Antimanics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antimanics)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/11 "2003-03-31T02:11:58Z")
Malcolm X maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/12 "2003-03-31T02:12:45Z")
I seem to recall reading somewhere that slaves were actually killed onstage during some bigger-budget plays in ancient Rome. No 'cite, though. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/13 "2003-03-31T02:20:02Z")
Brian Slade. But really he faked it. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/14 "2003-03-31T03:37:56Z")
**Tommy Cooper** , a British magician and comedian, died on stage at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, on the 15th of April 1984 of a massive heart attack. (I’ve googled up a couple of sites, but they all seem to be selling stuff, so I don’t think I can link to them). ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/15 "2003-03-31T03:39:22Z")
Never mind – should have read the damned OP more carefully. Tommy Cooper died on stage “just like that”, but clearly wasn’t murdered. Sigh ---
**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:** [March 31, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/16 "2003-03-31T03:42:08Z")
Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed on the set of the Twilight Zone movie. The director and others were brought up on negligent homicide charges. Dick Shawn (Sylvester in It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and LSD in The Producers) died on stage during a performance. From what I’ve heard tell, his brand of comedy was a bit strange. When he died, the people in the audience cheered, thinking it was part of the act. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/17 "2003-03-31T04:11:07Z")
Abe Lincoln? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/18 "2003-03-31T04:39:20Z")
Pearl White–the star of the silent movie serial _The Perils of Pauline_ and I believe this was repeated when the woman who was making the film about Pearl White in the late 1960s died during the shoot about Ms. White. While not exactly “on stage” - They both were on location during a session of shooting. ---
**Author:** ![Simbelmyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Simbelmyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simbelmyne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/19 "2003-03-31T04:42:04Z")
I hear Kelsey Grammer butchered Richard II onstage in San Diego. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254/20 "2003-03-31T05:31:59Z")
**TV Time** , there was no screen biography of Pearl White in the 1960s, although there was a remake of her silent movie _The Perils of Pauline_ in 1967. Perhaps you are thinking of this incident, as reported in White’s biography in the Internet Movie Database: > [@](#): > > On 10 August 1922, during the filming of _Plunder_, John Stevenson — her stand-in/stunt double — was killed while attempting a dangerous stunt. A rumor immediately spread that she had been killed, and a slight scandal arose when it was revealed that she had used a stand-in. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murdered-on-stage/165254.md?page=2)