3 Major Accidents That Resulted In Death On Set

By: Keith Mitchell w/Chestpoundfilms

While there are accidents on set, they usually result in injury. But sometimes the tragedy is far worse, quickly becoming a director’s greatest fear- death on set. This week with Chestpound’s film blog, we look at 3 major incidents that resulted in death during filming.

1. The Crow

Directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee (Son of Bruce Lee), The Crow was based on James O’Barr’s comic book. On March 31, 1993, Brandon Lee passed away from a fatal gunshot wound.

The scene was meant to have Lee’s character walk into his apartment and find his girlfriend being attacked. One of the thugs would then turn around and fire their gun at Lee. As a result of a mix up between the usage of blank rounds and dummy cartridges, made out of real bullets- a live bullet was trapped in the barrel unbeknownst to anyone.

While filming, the firearm specialist left the set early, leaving the prop assistant to care for the props. Unfortunately, the rule of checking all firearms before and after use was missed by the assistant.

During the scene, Brandon Lee was shot in the abdomen, with a live bullet from 12-15 feet away. After being rushed to the hospital and six hours of surgery, he was pronounced dead at 1:03pm March 31st, 1993.

2. The Return of the Musketeers

The 1989’s Return of the Musketeers was loosely based on the novel Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas. The film was directed by Richard Lester. On September 19, 1988 Roy Kinnear died after an accident during filming.

While on set, the Spanish crew mistook an instruction Lester gave. They washed down the cobblestoned street right before filming. This left the stones wet and slippery. When Kinnear and the other cast members rode into frame on horseback, Kinnear’s horse slipped, causing Kinnear to fall and break his pelvis. This was more indirect than the other cases listed- but Kinnear, after being rushed to the hospital, died of a heart attack the next day.

The film was later completed using a stand in and a voice artist. An official investigation was demanded by Kinnear's family, on the hospital where Kinnear received treatment. The event was so devastating for Lester; he vowed never to make another film again.

3. Twilight Zone: The Movie

Back in 1983, four directors got together to express their tribute to one of the greatest television series of all time, The Twilight Zone. George Miller, Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg, and John Landis set out to adapt three of the series most popular episodes as well as create one of their own. One episode in particular, “Time Out” starring Vic Marrow, followed the story of an obnoxious bigot who is suddenly in the shoes of the people he discriminated against.

During a scene in Act III, at about 2:30 a.m. July 23, 1982, both Vic Marrow and two child actors Myca Dinh (7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (6) passed away on set during a terrible accident. The original ending was meant to be a scene where Marrow’s character would find redemption by saving two Vietnamese children during a US raid on their village.

While shooting, the pilot had difficulties navigating through pyrotechnic fireballs created for the scene. Unaware of this, the technician detonated two pyrotechnic charges beside each other. This caused an explosion, sending the helicopter crashing down on top of Marrow and the two children- instantly killing them.

Accidents happen and can’t always be avoided. But incidences like these have caused film productions to reexamine their safety regulations. With the increase in technology via computer graphics and other ground breaking techniques, actors and crew members have to take less of a risk during the filmmaking process. Things are improving.