While we might think that being a celebrity is all glitz and glam, it can be really risky and dangerous at times. In an unfortunate incident today, popular actor and producer Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a movie set that killed a cinematographer and wounded the director of Rust.
Today, we have listed down some other people who were killed due to tragic incidents that took place on their sets.
1. Brandon Lee
The actor, Bruce Lee’s son, died while performing a stunt during the shooting of The Crow. For a scene, his character was supposed to get shot. However, the gun used in the shot had a fragment of a real bullet. As he was walking through a doorway carrying a grocery bag while shooting, another actor fired at him. The actor, who was 28-years-old then, was hit on his lower abdomen and died later the same day.
2. Martha Mansfield
While shooting for The Warrens Of Virginia, the superstar of the silent movie era died when a bystander lit a cigarette and flicked the matchstick into her automobile. The stick landed on the actor’s costume, which was apparently highly flammable, and it went up in flames. The actor eventually died the next day due to severe burns.
3. Paul Mantz
While performing a stunt for The Flight Of The Phoenix, he was supposed to fly the plane over a desert. However, his plane got stuck in a hill and broke into several pieces which killed him on the spot. Most parts of the movie were already shot, so the makers used another plane for the rest of the shots. The movie stunt pilot was a legendary aviator who appeared in a number of different movies.
4. Art Scholl
The renowned flight instructor died while performing a stunt during the shooting of Top Gun. The pilot was performing a flat spin, in which a horizontal plane inclines in circles, and the mounted camera equipment added a lot of extra weight to the plane. The plane went out of control and crashed in the ocean that was right below.
5. Roy Kinnear
While shooting for a scene in The Return Of The Musketeers, the actor died when he fell from a horse and broke his pelvis. He suffered a heart attack the next day and passed away. The director of the movie was deeply saddened by the actors’ death and quit his own career shortly after.
6. Vic Morrow
In Twilight Zone: The Movie, the actor was supposed to enact a scene where he was being attacked by some soldiers. He, along with two other child actors, were killed as the pyrotechnics exploded crashed the helicopter. However, the movie continued and was released the next year.
7. Jon-Erik Hexum
The actor died due to an unpredicted gunshot wound while shooting Cover-Up. As he learned about the delay in movie shooting, he jokingly picked up a loaded pistol and pulled the trigger. The burst fractured his skull and resulted in massive bleeding. Although he was rushed to the nearby hospital, he was pronounced brain dead later. The adventure show went on with a different actor, but it was shut down after the first season.
8. Steve Irwin
This adventurer and animal advocate was stung and killed by a stingray while shooting for an underwater documentary Ocean’s Deadliest. He, along with his cameraman, were in chest-deep water when they saw an 8-foot-wide poisonous stingray. Before he could get any help, the deadly fish punctured his heart by stabbing him with its tail and killed him instantly.