# Really and truly dead movie characters
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 17, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961 "2016-05-17T03:41:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/81 "2016-05-18T05:25:31Z")
Everyone on “Outward Bound”!
Wasn’t the actual '‘thin man’'of the Thin Man movies dead? Under a floor if I remember correctly.
---
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/82 "2016-05-18T05:29:23Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#):
>
> I think Morgyn is right. Miss Gultch morphs into the Witch of the East. He hair is down, she has a cape, her costume looks like it’s not all black, and most importantly, she appears to be wearing the ruby slippers. Margaret Hamilton plays both witches.
Nonsense. Hamilton is listed as playing only Gulch and the WWW, not the WWE. [The WWW wears a cape, has her hair down, and is identical in every way to the witch Dorothy sees, including the pattern on the base of her broomstick.](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SSve0xeqGpw/TsPUK3qUunI/AAAAAAAABbc/mc_zelZI110/s1600/Wizard-of-Oz-w08+witch+on+broomstick.jpg) That costume looks all black to me; it’s just paler than the background, as it has to be if we are going to see her at all. The WWW wears similar shoes; and if those are ruby slippers, [Miss Gulch](https://americanaussie.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/gulch-bike.jpg) is wearing them too.
---
### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/83 "2016-05-18T05:45:59Z")
Wait, are we talking about people who are dead throughout the entire time covered by a movie who nevertheless drive the story somehow? Or do we also include characters who die during a movie but who continue to interact with the story after that?
Or, perhaps: Does OP mean to include characters who appear live early in the movie? (That might possibly include the Wicked Witch of the East, if that’s her in the hurricane. I think that makes sense: She is seen flying around (or getting blown around) in the hurricane around the house, and then ends up underneath that house when it lands. It’s less clear why that should be WWW flying in the hurricane, only to have the house land on top of WWE. The WWE might not be shown in the credits simply because the role was so brief.)
Anyway, what about characters who appear in a story as ghosts? Does OP mean to include those?
What about Obi-wan Kenobi (for certain interpretations of “dead”)?
How about George and Marion Kerby, the two ghosts in the movie [Topper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topper_%28film%29) (and in the subsequent TV sitcom series)?
---
### Author:  [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/84 "2016-05-18T10:23:24Z")
Benjamin Raspail and Fredericka Bimmel in Silence of the Lambs?
---
### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/85 "2016-05-18T11:55:09Z")
> [@Folacin](#):
>
> I’d have to say ‘no’ - she was not dead at the beginning of the movie, or else Dorothy couldn’t have landed a house on her.
I don’t know about that. I think Glinda murdered her and then used telekinesis to force the Gales’ house to land on her to cover up her deed, conveniently denying the coroner complete access to the body.
---
### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/86 "2016-05-18T12:01:16Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> I don’t know about that. I think Glinda murdered her and then used telekinesis to force the Gales’ house to land on her to cover up her deed, conveniently denying the coroner complete access to the body.
But the coroner, as he averred, _thoroughly_ examined her! Despite the impediment of house on top of the witch, that man takes his job seriously!
---
### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/87 "2016-05-18T12:02:25Z")
Wow, I didn’t know such a legitimate discussion could be had out of me trying to make an oblique reference to “most sincerely dead”.
---
### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/88 "2016-05-18T12:04:46Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#):
>
> But the coroner, as he averred, _thoroughly_ examined her! Despite the impediment of house on top of the witch, that man takes his job seriously!
Glinda obviously paid off the coroner and he perjured himself by stating that he thoroughly examined her when it was impossible so to do.
---
### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/89 "2016-05-18T12:07:49Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Glinda obviously paid off the coroner and he perjured himself by stating that he thoroughly examined her when it was impossible so to do.
Are you accusing the coroner of malfeasance? That’s a mighty serious charge, my friend!
---
### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/90 "2016-05-18T12:13:29Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#):
>
> Are you accusing the coroner of malfeasance? That’s a mighty serious charge, my friend!
What can you do? The investigative bodies in Munchkinland are all short-staffed.
---
### Author:  [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/91 "2016-05-18T12:26:59Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#):
>
> In \*\* Stand By Me \*\* the whole film is four young friends searching for, and finding, the dead body of Ray Brower.
>
> TCMF-2L
You beat me to it.
---
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/92 "2016-05-18T13:43:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> If we’re going Python, then surely the canonical example is the parrot.
'E’s not dead, ‘e’s restin’.
---
### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/93 "2016-05-18T13:54:54Z")
The plumage don’t enter into it!
---
### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/94 "2016-05-18T14:31:37Z")
Not sure if you are interested in “undead” characters (i.e., those who are dead but still animate) … like Emily in _Corpse Bride_. And of course ghosts, like ghost of Humphrey Bogart in _Play It Again, Sam_ and Daniel Gregg in _The Ghost and Mrs. Muir._
I think this probably doesn’t qualify, but… there’s Miguel Ostos in the film version of _A Shot in the Dark_, who is killed during the opening credits if I recall correctly, and whose murder sets the action of the film in motion.
---
### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/95 "2016-05-18T14:42:50Z")
\*\*Carlito’s way
Jacob’s Ladder\*\*
---
### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/96 "2016-05-18T14:48:20Z")
There’s a weird 1970s movie called **Arnold** in which the title character is a corpse from the very start. The movie begins with Arnold’s corpse, standing in a coffin, posthumously marrying the woman whom he’s set up to inherit his wealth. Things get weird from there. Arnold does “speak” through pre-recorded tapes, such as his audio will, but he’s definitely dead. And since one of the conditions was that his new wife had to keep him near to inherit, he is a presence in the film.
---
### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/97 "2016-05-18T14:48:51Z")
If ghosts count, there are several in the movie Ghost. The main character, the subway dude, the guy in the hospital, the killers…
---
### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/98 "2016-05-18T14:51:29Z")
> [@cjepson](#):
>
> Not sure if you are interested in “undead” characters (i.e., those who are dead but still animate) … like Emily in _Corpse Bride_. And of course ghosts, like ghost of Humphrey Bogart in _Play It Again, Sam_ and Daniel Gregg in _The Ghost and Mrs. Muir._
And how do we count the ghost of Hamlet’s father, who IIRC never speaks to anyone other than the guy who (a) either feigns madness or is mad, and who (b) wonders aloud whether it’s just a demon pretending to be the real McCoy?
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/99 "2016-05-18T15:12:40Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> How about George and Marion Kerby, the two ghosts in the movie [Topper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topper_%28film%29) (and in the subsequent TV sitcom series)?
They were alive in the beginning of the first movie (and in the first episode of the TV series), but sequels just showed them as ghosts.
It’s the same for the Thin Man – he was shown alive in the first film, but was never shown again, despite being in the title of all the subsequent movies.
In many **CSI** episodes, the first we see of a victim is as a corpse.
**[Rehearsal for Murder](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084582/)** was a made-for-TV movie where a playwright brings together the principals of a play a year after the death of the leading lady. The victim is never shown, but her death is talked about throughout the play.
---
### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961/100 "2016-05-18T16:06:02Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> Wait, are we talking about people who are dead throughout the entire time covered by a movie who nevertheless drive the story somehow? Or do we also include characters who die during a movie but who continue to interact with the story after that?
>
> Or, perhaps: Does OP mean to include characters who appear live early in the movie? (That might possibly include the Wicked Witch of the East, if that’s her in the hurricane. I think that makes sense: She is seen flying around (or getting blown around) in the hurricane around the house, and then ends up underneath that house when it lands. It’s less clear why that should be WWW flying in the hurricane, only to have the house land on top of WWE. The WWE might not be shown in the credits simply because the role was so brief.)
>
> Anyway, what about characters who appear in a story as ghosts? Does OP mean to include those?
I was originally looking for characters whose only participation in the plot of a movie was as an inanimate corpse[sup]\*[/sup], but that movie trivia buffs might still recognize by name. All the details and variations are an interesting topic, though, and I don’t mind if the conversation spreads to other cases. Hollywood has been quite creative in their use of dead people. Don’t want to completely lose the gist of the OP, either.
- Was looking for a trivia question about Arch Stanton.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961.md?page=4)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-and-truly-dead-movie-characters/754961.md?page=6)