Movie Deaths On-Set, Sorted by Gross in 2023 Dollars
Unfinished, fyi. Heavily borrowed from Wikipedia. Donate!
List activity
57 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
34 titles
- DirectorOtis ThayerStarsEdmund CobbGrace McHughTed HardcastleCurley Smith, a lieutenant of the Texas Rangers, while patrolling the international line became suspicious of a load of hay which he saw going southward. Leaving a note telling of his intention for his comrade, he trailed the wagon into Mexico. After traveling half a day he saw the wagon descend into a deep gulch. Curley drew near and, peering from the overhanging bushes, saw at the bottom of the ravine a smugglers' camp. The men unloaded the hay and, as he suspected, the bottom of the wagon was filled with high-powered American arms and quantities of ammunition. His presence was discovered. The outlaws in great numbers pursued the lone American. In the chase his horse plunged over a steep hill throwing its rider. Anita, the smuggler chief's daughter, who was taking part in the chase, found him lying unconscious and after reviving him helped him to her father's cabin. After dressing his wounds she and her mother placed him in bed. Dean, a renegade American, who was deeply in love with Anita, recognized the prisoner and gave orders that he be closely guarded and not allowed to escape. Dean loaded his ponies and started off across the mountains to deliver the contraband to the Mexican general. During his absence Curley and Anita fell in love with each other. When Dean returned his jealousy was aroused and he determined to remove Curley by means fair or foul. During the absence of his chief, Amador, he seized the American, bound him to the ground and tied a rattlesnake close at his side and left the helpless prisoner to die a horrible death. Anita, missing her sweetheart, went in search of him and arrived just in time to shoot the snake and save him. With her aid he escaped and in the attempt to swim down the river past the sentry he was again captured and brought back to the smugglers' camp. in the meantime Dean had been trying to smuggle a load of Lydite bombs across the border, but in a fight with a party of Texas Rangers the bombs were exploded and Dean's men were forced to flee. He arrived at camp in a very ill humor and was enraged to find that his rival had not perished from the rattler's deadly fangs. Amador, the chief, reproved his lieutenant for the treatment of the prisoner and Anita, horrified at her former lover's cruelty, spurned him. Dean, maddened by jealousy and his desire for revenge, planned a mutiny, and in the dead of the night again entered the cabin and laid violent hands on the prisoner, determined that nothing would interfere with his plans to make Curley pay with his life for Dean's misfortunes. Anita, fearing evil and unable to protect her lover, stole from the outlaws' camp and rode at breakneck speed in the moonlight across the border to the American army camp. She begged that assistance be sent to the aid of the American. As the first streaks of the coming day lit the sky the American Cavalry with the Mexican girl at their head galloped forth to the rescue. In the meantime Curley had been dragged to the plains above the outlaws' camp, his hands were tied behind him and a squad of greasers were about to send a death volley into him, when the cavalry came thundering down from the foot hills and charged the Mexican smugglers. A battle ensued and the Americans were victorious. Anita freed her lover. Dean, seeing that the game was up, determined to kill Curley and then sell his own life dearly as possible, but Curley, seizing a saber which had fallen from a wounded American's hand, in a fierce encounter killed the renegade. Curley went back to his regiment and after peace was declared he returned, claimed Anita and brought her back to his own country as his bride.A boat that cast member Grace McHugh was on capsized while crossing the Arkansas River. Camera operator Owen Carter jumped in to save her, but both drowned.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsBlanche SweetHouse PetersGerald WardWith her brother killed Sonya is given Turkish captive Mahmud to do the hard work on the farm. After they become fond of each other he strikes a Turkish officer. When peace arrives, his blow costs him his noble lands. She is burned out of her house. They meet again on the road with nothing but each other.One extra shot in the head when a gun was thought to contain blanks, but was using live ammunition.
- DirectorJames CruzeStarsWallace ReidGrace DarmondWilliam BruntonRival logging companies battle for the Valley of the Giants (redwood trees) when a young engineer returns home to help his father by building a new rail line to transport the logs to the sawmill. A romance between the engineer and the rival's niece complicates the situations.Actor Walter Reid was badly injured in a train crash. The studio freely supplied morphine for the pain, and Reid eventually died of substance abuse disorder four years later.
- DirectorJames P. HoganStarsOrmer LocklearLouise LovelySam De GrasseCaptain Norman Craig returns from the Lafayette Escadrille as a shell-shocked veteran suffering from amnesia. With the help of Dr. Wayne Leveridge, his girlfriend Virginia devises a plan to help him restore his memory.Pilots Milton Elliot and Ormer Locklear were killed when their plane crashed at DeMille Airport while filming night-scenes.
- DirectorB. Reeves EasonRobert F. HillStarsWilliam DesmondLaura La PlanteWilliam De VaullThe adventures of Phineas Fogg the 3rd, grandson of the famous globe trotter of Jules Verne fame, in his effort to go around the world in 18 days to get proxies from widely scattered stockholders of an international fuel company, which is headed by Fogg's sweetheart's father. Unless Fogg obtains the proxies in time, Brenton, the vice-president, will seize control of the company at the next Board meeting which occurs on the 19th. It is then the first of the month. Brenton wagers Fogg $100,000 that he cannot make the trip in time.Stunt pilot Jean Perkins was climbing a rope ladder on the side of a plane, and fell to his death.
- DirectorRupert HughesStarsEleanor BoardmanMae BuschBarbara La MarrA young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.Actress Barbara La Marr injured her ankle during filming, and was prescribed cocaine and morphine for the pain. She died of substance abuse disorder three years later.
- DirectorJay MarchantStarsJoe BonomoLouise LorraineRobert GravesStuntmen Frank Tully and Tony Brack were killed in a car crash (footage of which was left in the movie).
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsCharles RayLouise DresserJoseph KilgourPercy Rogeen's father fears his son will never be a man, but only a mama's boy. When a friend of Mr. Rogeen promises to help the boy shape up, the father is delighted. But the help comes in the shape of a bottle, and Percy finds himself drunk aboard a freight car bound for the middle of nowhere. In a border town, Percy gets a job on a plantation and makes a name for himself playing the violin in a cantina. By the time his father arrives to rescue him, Percy is no longer the timid cry-baby of before, but the tough rescuer of the local farmers' land.Stunt swimmer William Harbaugh drowned in the Colorado River near Laguna Dam.
(My search was unclear, but this is either aka The Desert Fiddler, or simply based on the same source material as a 1924 movie named The Desert Fiddler, where Harbaugh died during filming.) - DirectorFred JackmanStarsCharley ChaseRexEdna MurphyA stallion known as "The Black" is the leader of a band of wild horses. A cowboy is determined to capture and break him.A horse fell on C.P. "Chip" Morgan right after filming was complete, and he died on the way to the hospital.
(Aka Rex, the King of the Wild Horses) - DirectorKing BaggotStarsHouse PetersMiss DuPontHedda HopperA.J. Raffles and his friend Bunny travel aboard a luxury liner where a necklace is stolen. The Amateur Cracksman is believed to have done it. This unusual jewel thief returns the pieces afterwards, asking that reward money be sent to the Soldier's Fund. But who is this mysterious man who steals for sport and charity?Actor Kate Lester was killed by a space heater explosion in her dressing room.
- DirectorElmer CliftonStarsGeorge BackusRosemary HillMartha MansfieldAs the Civil War begins Ned Burton leaves his Southern love Agatha Warren and joins the Union army. He is later protected and saved from death by Agatha in spite of her loyalty to the South.Actress Martha Mansfield was killed after her dress caught fire.
- DirectorFred NibloCharles BrabinChristy CabanneStarsRamon NovarroFrancis X. BushmanMay McAvoyA Jewish prince seeks to find his family and revenge himself upon his childhood friend who had him wrongly imprisoned.A stunt performer was killed when one wheel of their chariot broke, and they were thrown 30 feet into the air to land on a pile of lumber. They died of their injuries.
Three Italian extras possibly drowned as well, but that is unconfirmed. And around 100 horses died in the film, either during the chariot race, or by being shot due to there being no veterinarian care on-set.
After the casualties on the chariot race outdoor set was found unusable, the entire race was reshot on an indoor soundstage. Even then, five horses were killed. - DirectorWebster CullisonStarsElmo LincolnSally LongGeorge KotsonarosGordon Stanley was mauled and killed by a lion.
- DirectorMichael CurtizDarryl F. ZanuckStarsDolores CostelloGeorge O'BrienNoah BeeryThe Biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood, with a parallel story of soldiers in the First World War.Three people died in the filming of "the great flood".
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsDolores Del RíoRalph ForbesKarl DaneFortune hunters from all over the country rush to the Klondike in 1897 to seek their fortunes in the gold are tested by hardships of the journey.Stunt men Howard Daughters, Jerome Bautin, and Red Thompson were killed on Abercrombie Rapids in Alaska
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsEdward Everett HortonPatsy Ruth MillerJohnny ArthurMisadventures of a bogus flyer.Cameraman Alvin Knechtel and actor and stunt pilot William Hauber were killed in a plane crash while scouting for locations.
- DirectorWilliam NighStarsLon ChaneyPhyllis HaverJames Murray"Grumpy" Anderson is an old railroad engineer that is obsessed with keeping his train on schedule, no matter the cost. His two sons are also rail men, but don't share his single mindedness, which leads to one son's death and a fight with the other on the first son's funeral car leads to a crash, and demotion of Grumpy to mechanic in the yards. His redemption comes during the Mississippi flood, when he is again pressed into service to pilot a relief train along with his surviving son.Lon Chaney got artificial snow lodged in his throat, which caused a serious infection, pnemonia, and throat cancer. Chaney died in 1930.
- DirectorHoward HughesEdmund GouldingJames WhaleStarsBen LyonJames HallJean HarlowBrothers Monte and Ray leave Oxford to join the Royal Flying Corps. Ray loves Helen; Helen enjoys an affair with Monte; before they leave on their mission over Germany they find her in still another man's arms.Three pilots were killed while filming: Phil Jones (mechanic), Al Johnson, and Clement Philips
- DirectorKenneth HawksStarsWarner BaxterCatherine Dale OwenHedda HopperA wealthy and powerful industrialist changes his identity to avenge himself on the wife that spurned him on their wedding night.Ten men were killed when two camera planes collided over the ocean. Only five bodies were recovered.
- DirectorVarick FrissellGeorge MelfordStarsCharles StarrettLouise HuntingtonArthur VintonLuke, a young sailor and fisherman, who thinks he is jinx-ridden, has to be persuaded, and taunted,before he will join a sealing-expedition in the Artic; first by his sweetheart, so he can find that he is not a jinx, and also by Jed, who has a devious reason.After primary filming was complete, co-director Varick Frissell wanted more shots of ice floes. After the actual ship The Viking set forth to collect those shots, the ship became stuck in ice, and dynamite aboard accidentally detonated. Twenty-seven men were killed.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsLoretta YoungHenry WilcoxonIan KeithKing Richard and the Third Crusade (1190-1192) are given the DeMille treatment with more spectacle than history.Four horses were severely injured and later euthanized after a stunt had riders fall into a moat. The riders were also seriously injured but were not euthanized.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandPatric KnowlesA major countermands orders and attacks to avenge a previous massacre of men, women, and children.A stuntman was killed after falling off a horse, and falling onto a sword angled straight up. Dozens of horses were also killed during filming.
- DirectorHenry KingIrving CummingsStarsTyrone PowerHenry FondaNancy KellyAfter railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.A horse was killed while being ridden off a cliff and into a river. This finally led to the American Humane Society opening a Hollywood office to monitor film productions.
- DirectorMax W. KimmichStarsAnna DammannRené DeltgenPaul Wegener"My Life for Ireland" is a Nazi-made anti-British propaganda film about a group of Dublin schoolboys who unwittingly become pawns of the British and seek redemption by avenging their fallen IRA fathers in the Irish War of Independence.Note: This is a Fascist knot C propaganda film. Several extras were killed by a live landmine.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandArthur KennedyA highly fictionalized account of the life of George Armstrong Custer from his arrival at West Point in 1857 to his death at the battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.Three horsemen died during filming of the calvary charge. Two of them assumably died with their boots on, one (Jack Budlong, who was impaled upon their own sword when their horse tripped), died in the hospital hours later.
- DirectorLesley SelanderStarsWilliam BoydAndy ClydeJay KirbyJohnny is accused of robbing and bank and runs off into the hills. Hoppy tries to prove his innocence and get the real bad guys.Charles B. Murphy was mortally injured when a wagon overturned, and later died in the hospital.
- DirectorLewis D. CollinsRay TaylorStarsGeorge DolenzBill KennedyDaun KennedyMine owner Jackson Decker orders his manager to obtain Tom Bailey's milling machinery no matter what the cost. When Bailey is found murdered, suspicion naturally falls upon the mine owner and his son, a Canadian Mountie, is ordered to find the real culprit. He joins forces with a French-Canadian constable, Bailey's beautiful daughter and a phony palm reader to learn the truth and discovers a secret gold mine, a double-crossing casino owner and a forger at the bottom of the conspiracy.Addison "Jack" Randall was riding his horse full-speed, and died while attempting to grab his hat which had fallen off his head. Jack struck and was mortally wounded by a tree he was passing.
- DirectorDick PowellStarsJohn WayneSusan HaywardPedro ArmendárizMongol chief Temujin battles against Tartar armies and for the love of the Tartar princess Bortai. Temujin becomes the emperor Genghis Khan.This movie is notorious for causing cancer due to it being filmed in Utah, but 137 miles downwind from Nevadan nuclear test sites. Ninety-one out of 220 crew members had developed some kind of cancer over the decades, but it's not known if this was higher than average rates.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneWilliam HoldenConstance TowersIn 1863, a Union outfit is sent behind Confederate lines in Mississippi to destroy enemy railroads but a captive southern belle and the unit's doctor cause frictions within ranks.Stuntman Fred Kennedy was killed in a horse fall.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovStarsInna BurduchenkoLyudmila CherepanovaBoris DmokhovskySet in a mining town in the Donets Basin, it centers on a clash between the political establishment and a religious cult which infiltrates the community.Actress Inna Burduchenko died 2 weeks following severe 3rd-degree burns.
- DirectorPhilip LeacockStarsSteve McQueenRobert WagnerShirley Anne FieldIn 1943, while stationed in Britain, arrogant Captain Buzz Rickson is in command of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, but his recklessness is endangering everyone around him.Stunt parachutist Mike Reilly drowned in the English Channel while jumping from a B-17 bomber.
- DirectorVasiliy ShukshinStarsLeonid KuravlyovLidiya ChashchinaLarisa BurkovaThe story of an Altai truck driver, a kind and outgoing person, who loves life. But it turns out that he can also be a hero, when he prevents the explosion of a gasoline truck by risking his life.Actor Boris Balakin, suffering from a fever, died of a heart attack on-set.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsJames StewartRichard AttenboroughPeter FinchAfter an oil company plane crashes in the Sahara, the survivors are buoyed with hope by one of the passengers, an airplane designer who plans for them to build a flyable plane from the wreckage.Pilot Paul Mantz crashed their plane and was killed during a low pass.
- DirectorByron PaulStarsDick Van DykeNancy KwanAkim TamiroffA Navy pilot is marooned on an island with a headhunter's daughter and outcast tribal women.Cameraman Robert King Baggot was killed during filming when a large wave hit his boat and washed him overboard, where he drowned.