Stars Who Died While Filming a Movie, 6-8
Check out the remainder of our list of stars who died while filming a movie, beginning with
a famous partier.
6. Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed, as famous for drinking and partying as he was for acting, died in a pub on May 2, 1999, before he could finish filming Ridley Scott's epic Gladiator. Reed, who was 61, collapsed on the floor of a bar in Malta and died of a heart attack. Most of his scenes in Gladiator had already been shot when he died, but Scott had to digitally re-create Reed's face for a few remaining segments. The Internet Movie Database estimated the cost of the digital touch-ups at $3 million. When Gladiator was released in 2000, it grossed more than $187 million in the United States alone and snared five Oscars, including Best Picture.
7. Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin, aka "The Crocodile Hunter," was in the Great Barrier Reef to film a documentary titled The Ocean's Deadliest when he was struck by a stingray and killed on September 4, 2006. Irwin, a 44-year-old Australian wildlife expert, was known for his daredevil stunts involving animals and could frequently be seen handling poisonous snakes and wrestling crocodiles on his Animal Planet TV show. Because of bad weather, Irwin was actually taking a break from filming his documentary at the time of the stingray attack, instead taping some snorkeling segments for a children's show. The Ocean's Deadliest aired in January 2007.
8. Brandon Lee
Brandon Lee, an aspiring actor and the son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, was killed in a freak accident on the set of The Crow on March 31, 1993. Lee, who was 28 at the time, was playing a character who gets shot by thugs upon entering his apartment. Tragically, the handgun used in the scene had a real bullet lodged in its barrel, which was propelled out by the force of the blank being shot. Lee was hit in the abdomen and died later that day. The movie was nearly complete at the time of the shooting, but a stunt double was needed to complete a few remaining scenes, and Lee's face was digitally superimposed onto the stunt double's body.
Helen Davies, Marjorie Dorfman, Mary Fons, Deborah Hawkins, Martin Hintz, Linnea Lundgren, David Priess, Julia Clark Robinson, Paul Seaburn, Heidi Stevens, and Steve Theunissen
