Random Actors Who Died In Middle Of Filming Something (22 items)

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  (#1) Heath Ledger

  • Died at 29 (1979-2008)

  On January 22, 2008, Heath Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment from a drug overdose. The Australian actor had just wrapped filming Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and was in the middle of production for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus when he passed away. Gilliam brought on Ledger's close friends Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to step in for Ledger's character in his remaining scenes.

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  (#2) Paul Walker

  • Dec. at 40 (1973-2013)

  On November 30th 2013, Fast & Furious star Paul Walker died in a car accident after leaving a charity event with his former racing friend Roger Rodas. The two were killed almost instantly when the Porsche Rodas was driving lost control and slammed into a tree. Fast & Furious 7 was still in the middle of filming, resulting in Universal Pictures to consider the decision to indefinitely put the movie on hold.

  Eventually the decided to move forward with the project with a combination of special effects and stunt doubles.

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  (#3) Brandon Lee

  • Dec. at 28 (1965-1993)

  Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed in a stunt accident on the set of The Crow on March 31, 1993. Lee's character was supposed to get shot in a scene, but the handgun used contained a fragment of a real bullet. He was hit in the abdomen and died later that day. He was 28.

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  (#4) River Phoenix

  • Dec. at 23 (1970-1993)

  Before he could finish filming the drama Dark Blood, River Phoenix died of a drug overdose of on October 31, 1993 outside The Viper Room in Hollywood. The autopsy found various drugs including cocaine and morphine in his system. Dark Blood remained unfinished for 19 years and was finally released in 2012.

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  (#5) Philip Seymour Hoffman

  • Dec. at 47 (1967-2014)

  On February 2, 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in a Manhattan hotel room from a heroin overdose. After more than 25 years of sobriety, the Oscar-winning actor (for Capote in 2006) had relapsed into addiction 8 months before his death. At the time, the second installment of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay was in production, and Hoffman had a week left of filming. He was 46 years old.

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  (#6) Natalie Wood

  • Dec. at 43 (1938-1981)

  At the time of her mysterious death, Natalie Wood was in the middle of production of the movie Brainstorm. Wood drowned on November 29, 1981 off the coast of California's Catalina Island during a weekend boat trip with her husband Robert Wagner, her Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken, and the boat's captain Dennis Davern.

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  (#7) Marilyn Monroe

  • Dec. at 36 (1926-1962)

  Hollywood's most famous blonde bombshell was in the middle of filming the comedy Something's Got to Give when she was found dead at her Brentwood, CA home on August 5, 1962. Monroe's cause of death was reported as an overdose of barbiturates resulting from a probable suicide.

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  (#8) John Candy

  • Dec. at 44 (1950-1994)

  John Candy suffered a massive heart attack and died in his sleep on March 4, 1994, just hours after he filmed his final scene in the comedy Wagons East!

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  (#9) Cory Monteith

  • Dec. at 31 (1982-2013)

  The breakout star of Fox's musical comedy "Glee" was found dead in his Vancouver, Canada hotel room on July 13, 2013, during hiatus between the show's 4th and 5th seasons. Authorities stated that the actor died from a lethal combination of heroin and alcohol, but ruled out any foul play. Monteith was 31.

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  (#10) Heather O'Rourke

  • Dec. at 13 (1975-1988)

  Before post-production was completed on Poltergeist III, the horror trilogy's child star Heather O'Rourke died on February 1, 1988 from a cardiac arrest caused by septic shock brought on by the intestinal stenosis.

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  (#11) John Ritter

  • Dec. at 55 (1948-2003)

  On September 11, 2003, while filming the ABC sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," John Ritter suffered from an aortic dissection caused by a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect. The actor was rushed to a hospital across the street and died later that evening.

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  (#12) Steve Irwin

  • Dec. at 44 (1962-2006)

  Beloved Australian adventurer and animal advocate Steve Irwin, famously known as The Crocodile Hunter, was stung and killed by a stingray on September 4, 2006 while filming the underwater documentary Ocean's Deadliest.

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  (#13) Don Rickles

  • Dec. at 90

  When Don Rickles passed away at age 90 in 2017, he had yet to record his parts for 2019's Toy Story 4. But Pixar and Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley "couldn't imagine anyone else" as Mr. Potato Head. So the Pixar editorial team went through over two decades worth of recordings from Don Rickles (including outtakes, shorts, theme park messages, toys, and other related projects) and logged "every word, every cough, every hum" so that they would be able to put together whatever they needed for the fourth film in the franchise.

  Then, Cooley worked alongside screenwriters Andrew Stanton and Stephany Folsom to write general lines for the Mr. Potatohead character, which they pulled together using the database of old Don Rickles quotes that they had archived. 

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  (#14) Bela Lugosi

  • Dec. at 74 (1882-1956)

  Horror film icon Bela Lugosi, best known for playing Count Dracula, Lugosi died from a heart attack on August 16, 1956 while filming Plan 9 from Outer Space. Director Ed Wood asked his family's chiropractor to take over Lugosi's scenes even though the man didn't look or sound like the actor.

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  (#15) David Strickland

  • Dec. at 30 (1969-1999)

  While filming the third season of NBC sitcom "Suddenly Susan," David Strickland committed suicide by hanging himself in a Las Vegas hotel room on March 22, 1999.

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  (#16) Redd Foxx

  • Dec. at 69 (1922-1991)

  Known for starring on the classic sitcom "Sanford and Son," actor Redd Foxx died on October 11, 1991 after suffering a heart attack on the set of his show "The Royal Family."

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  (#17) Diana Hyland

  • Dec. at 41 (1936-1977)

  Diana Hyland was diagnosed with breast cancer and on died March 27, 1977, just 12 days after the first episode of her ABC series "Eight is Enough" aired. Her character was written out of the remainder of the first season.

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  (#18) Vic Morrow

  • Dec. at 53 (1929-1982)

  The veteran actor died on July 23, 1982 while filming a war scene for "Twilight Zone: The Movie." Morrow and two child actors were shooting an escape scene when a helicopter hovering about 25 feet above crashed on top of them. The impact killed all three instantly.

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  (#19) Tyrone Power

  • Dec. at 44 (1914-1958)

  Hollywood icon Tyrone Power was filming the epic Solomon and Sheba when he suffered a massive heart attack on set during a fencing scene. Power died en route to the hospital on March 15, 1958.

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  (#20) Michael Conrad

  • Dec. at 58 (1925-1983)

  The Emmy-winning actor of "Hill Street Blues" died from urethral cancer on November 22, 1983 during the show's fourth season.

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  (#21) Jim Davis

  • Dec. at 72 (1909-1981)

  Playing Jock Ewing, the patriarch of the Ewing family on "Dallas," Jim Davis appeared in 75 episodes during the show's first three seasons. Davis died of a brain tumor on April 26, 1981 while season three was still on the air. His character later "died” in a helicopter crash on an episode that aired in January 1982.

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  (#22) Godfrey Gao

  • 35

  While competing on the Chinese reality TV show "Chase Me," Taiwanese-Canadian model and actor Godfrey Gao collapsed on November 27, 2019. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died about 3 hours after. 

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