Random Actors Whose Deaths Became Storylines (15 items)

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  (#13) Paul Walker

  • Dec. at 40 (1973-2013)

  Paul Walker was on a Thanksgiving holiday break from filming Fast & Furious 7 when he died in a car accident in 2013 at the age of 40. Universal Pictures decided to delay filming of the high speed action film, though eventually the project continued. Walker still had a few scenes left to film at the time of his death.

  The studio brought in Paul's brothers Cody and Caleb to help finish Paul's scenes. With the use of CGI, special lighting, and specific camera angles, both of his brothers could essentially act as body doubles for Paul. When the film was released in 2015, it went on to became a monster box office success, bringing in $1.5 billion dollars worldwide.

  Walker's death did affect the ending of the film. Director James Wan said in an interview with Collider, "The original ending of ‘Furious 7′ was setting up, you know, the bigger world of where the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise could go into. And that’s obviously very smart of them to think so. But when the tragedy happened, all of that became irrelevant. So it did not matter anymore, all of that stuff. And to the studio’s credit, they did not push for that. They realized how important it was to make a movie that finishes and that just outright is a tribute to Paul Walker. So I give them a lot of credit for being bigger than that and going along with this ending that is the right ending to go with."

  
  
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  (#8) Larry Hagman

  • Dec. at 81 (1931-2012)

  Larry Hagman died in 2012 at the age 81 from acute myeloid leukemia. At the time of his death, Hagman was once again playing oil tycoon J.R. Ewing in the revival drama Dallas. Ewing, this time around, is killed by two gunshot wounds.

  J.R.'s funeral takes place during the eighth episode of the second season, and several of the show's original cast members attended. Following Hagman's death, the writers reworked the rest of the show's second season to focus on who shot J.R., a homage to the famous cliffhanger from the original series.

  
   
  
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  (#4) Redd Foxx

  • Dec. at 69 (1922-1991)

  Redd Foxx died of a heart attack at the age of 69 while filming his comeback series The Royal Family. The sitcom was only seven episodes into its premiere season when Foxx collapsed on the set during rehearsal. Jackée Harry was brought in as a replacement for Foxx (who played the character Al), as the younger sister to Al's wife, Victoria. Harry's character was there to help her sister deal with the loss of her husband, and his passing became a storyline in the show.

  The retooling of the show was unsuccessful, however, and was cancelled later that same season.

   
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  (#5) Nicholas Colasanto

  • Dec. at 61 (1924-1985)

  Nicholas Colasanto, who played the slow-witted but beloved Coach on Cheers, died from a heart attack in 1985 at the age of 61. Colasanto passed just before Season 3 wrapped on the NBC sitcom. The show never really explained exactly what happened to Coach. There is a scene during the Season 4 premiere where Sam simply tells Diane that Coach died.

  Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) arrives from small town Indiana to visit his pen pal, Coach, not knowing that he has died. After Woody is told of his friend's death, Sam offers him a job at the bar. The sitcom remained on the air for a total of 11 seasons.

   

  
   
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  (#6) Nancy Marchand

  • Dec. at 72 (1928-2000)

  Nancy Marchand died in 2000 at the age of 71. Most people remember her as Tony Soprano's mother, Livia Soprano, on The Sopranos. Marchand passed away after the HBO program's second season. The Sopranos was, of course, a mob show, but it was just as much a family drama. Tony's mother often came up in his psychiatric sessions and became one of the primary fundamental reasons for his panic attacks and general depression.

  When Marchand died, there was still a lot of narrative to explore in the troubled mother/son relationship. Producers wanted one last scene between Tony and his mother, so the show opted to go the special effects route. They used tape editing combined with computer technology to make a fairly realistic looking Marchand talking to her son one last time. Her character later dies at the end of the episode.

   
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  (#14) Michael Conrad

  • Dec. at 58 (1925-1983)

  Michael Conrad died in 1983 at the age 58 from urethral cancer. At the time of his death, Conrad played Officer Phil Esterhaus on the NBC cop drama Hill Street Blues. You may remember his character reminding his fellow officers after roll call to "be careful out there." Conrad's death occurred during the fourth season of the show and producers decided to give his character a memorable demise.

  The officer died from a heart attack in an episode title, "Grace Under Pressure," while making love to his girlfriend, Grace, who had previously been depicted as a woman with a very high sex drive.

   

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