Here's A Look At 13 Actors Who Actually Died While Filming A Movie

This article is both interesting and a bit eerie if you think about it, but let's dive in.

Daphnie

• Published in Film & TV
• April 26, 2022

A lot of us can't even imagine an actor passing away while working on a movie and I'm sure that the arrangements that have to be made after something like that are so complicated. I don't think it's exactly common knowledge to know who passed away while making a movie.

These movies are special though because they serve as the last moments of these remembered actors and that is enough for anyone to want to rewatch them. Some of these factors passed away due to natural circumstances while others are a bit eerier than that and might even call for a bit of explaining.

You might actually be surprised to hear that some of our favorite characters passed away while working on a movie, which would of course be the last film that they'd play in. These situations are definitely sad, but we always have their movies to remember them by which makes them that much more special.

We're going to take a look at 13 actors who actually passed away while they were filming what would be their last movie. Let's take a look at the actors, what happened, and which movie they were acting in before they passed away.

1. Chris Farley: Shrek

Farley actually died on December 18, 1997, of an overdose on cocaine and morphine. He was 33 years old and was found dead on his apartment floor.

He was the voice actor behind Shrek, but once he passed away they decided to case Mike Myers for the role.

Here's a look into Farley's recordings for Shrek here:

2. Heather O'Rourke: Poltergeist III

Heather died on February 1, 1988, as a result of acute bowel obstruction and septic shock. Although she had finished shooting for the movie, it was still in post-production when she passed.

The director tried to postpone finishing the movie as he said that it felt disrespectful to her and her family, but they were forced to continue the production of the movie.

You can see the end of Poltergeist III here:

3. James Dean: Giant

James Dean died in a car accident on September 30, 1955, when he was 24 years old. It was said that technically Dean was finished with all of his filming for the movie Giant, but he needed to go in for some touch-ups on the audio, which of course he wasn't able to do after his passing.

Here's a popular scene from the movie Giant that he played in.

This scene is actually the one he was supposed to come back and fix the audio for.

4. Natalie Wood: Brainstorm

Natalie Wood passed away on November 29, 1981, by drowning off the coast of Catalina Island, California. Natalie was in the process of filming Brainstorm when she passed away and it's worth mentioning that the circumstances surrounding her death have been filled with many mysteries.

There have been many persons of interest in her case including her real-life husband and her co-star who played her husband in Brainstorm.

You can see the ending of Brainstorm here:

5. River Pheonix: Dark Blood

Pheonix died on October 31, 1993, from drug intoxication involving lethal levels of cocaine and morphine. Pheonix had about a month left of filming for Dark Blood and he also had a position lined up to be a reporter in Interview With The Vampire

Here's the trailer for Dark Blood.

6. Aaliyah: The Matrix Reloaded

Aaliyah died on August 25, 2001, along with eight other passengers on a small plane that crashed in the Bahamas. Aaliyah actually finished filming all of her scenes for The Matrix Reloaded but Reloaded and Revolutions were to be filmed back to back and she had not started any filming for Revolutions so her spot had to be cast differently after her passing.

Here's some behind-the-scenes footage of Aaliyah here:

7. Heath Ledger: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Here's a look at behind-the-scenes of Health's role:

8. Philip Seymour Hoffman: Hunger Games: Mockingjay

Hoffman died on February 2, 2014, from a deadly mix of drugs that included heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, and sedatives. Hoffman had completed most of his filming for The Hunger Games movies and the filming days were cut short to allow time for mourning.

Here's an extended scene of Hoffman in Mockingjay here:

9. Oliver Reed: Gladiator

Here's a look into one of the scenes filmed using visual effects:

10. Brandon Lee: The Crow

Lee died on March 31, 1993, after being shot on set with a gun that was supposed to shoot blanks. The director and crew, after mourning, had decided that Lee would've wanted them to finish filming so that's exactly what they did.

Similar to the previous actor death, they continue the movie by using digit help.

You can see one of the "digitally grafted" scenes here:

11. Bruce Lee: The Game of Death

Bruce Lee died on July 20, 1973, at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital after being found unconscious on his apartment floor. Lee had just passed away after only filming about 40 minutes of footage for the film The Game Of Death, so the movie was scrapped.

A few years later though, Golden Harvest decided to release the movie anyway and just change up the storyline so that they could use only the 40 minutes of footage that Bruce Lee filmed for them.

Here's a scene in the movie dedicated to Bruce Lee's passing:

12. Paul Walker: Fast & Furious 7

You can see a breakdown of the visual effects used to create Walker's scenes here:

13. Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen: The Twilight Zone: The Movie

Morrow, Le, and Chen died on July 23, 1982, while filming a mock Vietnam battle scene. Morrow was 53, Le was 7 and Chen was 6 years old. While filming a scene a helicopter was used and unfortunately, this is what killed all three of them.

Something happened and the aircraft hit 6-year-old Renee, then the helicopter toppled over and the blade sliced both Morrow and 7-year-old Myca.

Here's a look into Segment One:

Some of these stories are incredibly crazy, while others leave a lot of mystery behind them. I mean, I can't be the only one noticing a trend with movie actors dying of overdose or "lethal amounts" of drugs.

This seems to be an ongoing thing and it's incredibly sad. It is quite interesting how a lot of movies decided to continue on and just use visual effects to finish off the roles of the deceased actors.

Daphnie