Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

List of film and television accidents

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This is intended to be a list of notable accidents that occurred during the shooting of films and television, such as cast or crew fatalities or serious accidents that plagued production. It is not intended to be a list of every minor injury an actor or stuntman suffered during filming. Stuntwork accounts for over half of all film-related injuries, with an average of five deaths for every 2,000 injuries. From 1980 to 1990 there were 37 deaths relating to accidents during stunts; 24 of these deaths involved the use of helicopters.

Contents

1914–1919

  • Across the Border (1914). On July 1, 1914, while on location in Canon City, Colorado, cast member Grace McHugh was filming a scene where her character was crossing the Arkansas River in a boat. When the boat capsized, camera operator Owen Carter immediately jumped into the river to save her. He dragged her onto a sandbar that was actually quicksand. The rest of the film crew watched helplessly as they were sucked into the quicksand and drowned.
  • The Valley of the Giants (1919). Silent era star Wallace Reid was badly injured in a train crash during filming in Oregon. His injuries caused him severe pain and the studio supplied him with increasing quantities of morphine so he could keep working. Addicted to morphine and also suffering from alcoholism, Reid died in 1923 at the age of 32.
  • Unidentified Henry Lehrman Comedy (1919): Comedian Billie Ritchie, while working on a short comedy film, was kicked in the stomach by an ostrich and sustained internal injuries.

    • 1920s

  • Haunted Spooks (1920). On the set of a publicity shoot that took place while filming, actor and comedian Harold Lloyd picked up what he thought was a prop bomb with the fuse lit but realized too late the bomb was real. It detonated, blowing off the thumb and first finger of his right hand and also temporarily blinding him. For the rest of his career, Lloyd concealed his missing fingers with a prosthetic glove.
  • The Skywayman (1920). Pilots Milton Elliott and Ormer Locklear were killed on 2 August 1920, during filming. Their plane crashed at the DeMille Airfield, along Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, while filming night scenes.
  • Souls for Sale (1923). Actress Barbara La Marr injured her ankle during filming and doctors prescribed not only morphine but also cocaine to control the pain and enable her to continue filming. Working on the production left La Marr addicted to drugs, a factor that contributed to her premature death three years later.
  • Sherlock, Jr. (1924). While hanging from a water tower, Buster Keaton pulled a rope that released water from the tower, knocking him to the ground. In the scene, he stood and ran into the distance. During a routine physical examination 11 years later, an X-ray revealed that Keaton had fractured his neck.
  • The Warrens of Virginia (1924). On 29 November 1923, while working on location in San Antonio, Texas, Martha Mansfield was severely burned when a match, tossed by a cast member, ignited her Civil War costume of hoopskirts and flimsy ruffles. Mansfield was playing the role of Agatha Warren and had just finished her scenes and retired to a car when her clothing burst into flames. Her neck and face were saved when leading man Wilfred Lytell threw his heavy overcoat over her. The chauffeur of Mansfield's car was burned badly on his hands while trying to remove the burning clothing from the actress. The fire was put out, but she sustained substantial burns to her body and died the following day.
  • Ben-Hur (1925). An early filming attempt of the chariot race was done on location at the Circus Maximus in Rome. It brought about the death of one stunt man when a wheel of his chariot broke.
  • The General (1926). During filming of the epic black comedy in Oregon, there were a number of incidents. Several National Guardsmen, employed as extras for the Civil War battle scenes, were injured by mishaps caused by misfired muskets or explosions. Director and star Buster Keaton was knocked unconscious when he stood too close to a cannon firing. Assistant director Harry Barnes was accidentally hit in the face by a blank charge. Train brakeman Fred Lowry sued the production for US$2,900 after his foot was crushed when it was run over by a locomotive wheel during filming of one of the railway scenes.
  • Wings (1927). During filming of the World War I aerial combat scenes, stunt pilot Dick Grace was required to deliberately crash-land a Fokker D-VII, specially modified to "crumple" on impact. When the Fokker struck the ground, the landing gear failed to crumple, making the impact a heavier one than planned. This caused Grace's safety straps to break, sending his head through the instrument panel, leaving him with four crushed vertebrae and a broken neck. Amazingly, Grace spent only six weeks in the hospital and was back performing stunt work within a year.
  • Noah's Ark (1928). Three people died, one man lost a leg and a number were injured in a scene where several hundred extras were caught in the "Great Flood." The deaths were instrumental in the introduction of film safety regulations the following year.
  • The Aviator (1929). During aerial scouting for locations, an aircraft crashed, killing cameraman Alvin Knechtel and actor and stunt pilot William Hauber.
  • Unknown film (1929). Strongheart, the famed German Shepherd film star, was burned after accidentally coming into contact with a hot studio light. The burn became tumorous, eventually leading to his death later that year.

    • 1930s

  • Hell's Angels (1930). Three pilots were killed during the filming. The sole Sikorsky S-29-A, owned by Roscoe Turner, which portrayed a German Gotha bomber, crashed during filming on 22 March 1929 when stunt pilot Al Wilson put it in a spin for its final scene and was unable to recover. He was ready to bail out and called back to his mechanic Phil Jones (who was in the rear of the plane dumping lampblack to simulate smoke) to jump, but he didn't hear him and went down with the plane. Only one brief shot of the spinning Sikorsky was used in the film.
  • Such Men Are Dangerous (1930). During aerial filming off the coast of Southern California near Santa Monica on 2 January 1930, two Stinson Detroiter aircraft, employed as camera-planes, collided over the ocean. All ten men on board the two planes were killed, including director Kenneth Hawks (brother of Howard Hawks), assistant-director Max Gold, cinematographer Conrad Wells, director of photography George Eastman, cameramen Otto Jordan and Ben Frankel, two property men and both pilots. Only five bodies were recovered. As it was one of the final scenes to be filmed, the movie was still completed on schedule. Families of the men who were lost took legal action against Fox Film Company but the courts ruled in favour of the latter.
  • The Viking (1931). After completion of filming in Canada, producer, co-director and real-life adventurer Varick Frissell decided that more footage of the Labrador ice floes was required. He and a small film crew joined the real ship The Viking on a seal-hunting voyage in order to obtain the footage he wanted. On 15 March, the ship became trapped in ice near Horse Isles and dynamite stored on board (intended for breaking up ice floes) accidentally detonated, destroying the vessel and killing 27 men, including Frissell and cameraman Alexander Penrod.
  • The Lost Patrol (1934). During filming in high temperatures in Buttercup Valley near Yuma, Arizona, Director John Ford insisted his cast and crew only work in the early mornings and late afternoons to avoid the most intense heat of each day. Under pressure from RKO to speed up filming, Producer Cliff Reid insisted that the midday break be shortened. Ford refused, believing that many of the crew would be at risk of heatstroke in the 120-degree conditions. Reid tried to prove his point by walking around in the open in the midday heat and soon collapsed with heat exhaustion, requiring hospital treatment.
  • The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). During the filming of the charge sequence, a stuntman was killed when he fell off his horse and landed on a broken sword that was lying on the field, unfortunately wedged in such a position that its blade was sticking straight up. Also, due to the use of trip wires, three dozen horses had their legs broken and had to be shot during filming, resulting in the U.S. Congress passing laws to protect animals used in motion pictures.
  • Jesse James (1939). A horse was killed during the scene where it was ridden off a cliff into a river. This incident led to the American Humane Association opening a Hollywood office in 1940 and monitoring the treatment of animals in films.
  • The Wizard of Oz (1939). Margaret Hamilton was badly burned during a scene in which her character, the Wicked Witch of the West, "vanished" in a burst of flame and smoke. A delay in activating a trap door left her exposed to the pyrotechnic device. Her stunt double was also injured in a scene involving a smoking broomstick. Buddy Ebsen suffered a severe allergic reaction to his Tin Man makeup that resulted in a collapsed lung and lifelong breathing issues. He was unable to continue working on the production and was replaced by Jack Haley.

    • 1940s

  • Citizen Kane (1941). While filming, Orson Welles tripped down a staircase and chipped his anklebone, forcing him to use a wheelchair for the next two weeks. Welles also injured his hand during a scene where he destroyed a room.
  • My Life for Ireland (1941). An anti-British propaganda film made by the Germans. During the epic final battle scene, several extras were killed when one of them stepped on a live land mine. The footage is said to have been included in the release prints, although no proof of this has been established.
  • They Died with Their Boots On (1941). Three horsemen perished during the cavalry charge, one of whom was extra Jack Budlong, whose horse tripped as he rode alongside Errol Flynn. As he fell forward, he had the foresight to toss his sword ahead of him. Unfortunately, it landed handle down and stuck in place. Budlong was impaled on his own sword, and died in a Los Angeles hospital a few hours later.
  • Signed with Their Honour (unfinished, 1943). This was to have been a British war film based on the 1942 novel of the same name by James Aldridge. But during filming in Cheshire, a pair of Gladiator biplanes collided, injuring both pilots who managed to escape by parachute. After this incident, the film project was abandoned.

    • 1950s

  • The Conqueror (1956). The exterior scenes were shot on location near St. George, Utah, 137 miles (220 km) downwind of the United States government's Nevada Test Site. In 1953, extensive above-ground nuclear weapons testing had occurred at the test site, as part of Operation Upshot–Knothole. Director Dick Powell died of cancer in January 1963, Pedro Armendáriz was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1960, and committed suicide in 1963 after he learned his condition had become terminal. Susan Hayward, John Wayne, and Agnes Moorehead all died of cancer in the 1970s. Cast member actor John Hoyt died of lung cancer in 1991. The cast and crew totaled 220 people. By 1981, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease. Several of Wayne and Hayward's relatives also had cancer scares as well after visiting the set. Michael Wayne developed skin cancer, his brother Patrick Wayne had a benign tumor removed from his breast and Hayward's son Tim Barker had a benign tumor removed from his mouth. It is not clear, however, that the cancer rate for this film crew was significantly higher than in the general population.
  • Underground (1958). Gareth Jones was playing a character who was to have suffered a heart attack during the play. Coincidentally Jones suffered a massive heart attack and died during a live television video production off camera, between two of his scenes while in make-up.
  • The Horse Soldiers (1959). Fred Kennedy, a veteran stuntman and bit player, was killed in a horse fall on location in Louisiana. Director John Ford was so upset he closed the set and had to film the rest of the scene later in the San Fernando Valley, and in a cut-down version.
  • Solomon and Sheba (1959). While filming a fencing scene with fellow co-star and friend George Sanders, Tyrone Power suffered a fatal heart attack and died en route to the hospital.

    • 1960s

  • The Alamo (1960). Actor Laurence Harvey, who played Colonel W B Travis, was injured when a cannon recoiled whilst firing, with one of the wheels rolling over his foot, fracturing it. He did not reveal his injury until filming of the scene was completed.
  • Spartacus (1960). Actor Charles McGraw suffered a broken jaw on the set of the Roman epic. During the revolt at the Gladiator school, Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is seen forcing the head of evil trainer Marcellus (McGraw) into a cauldron of soup, drowning him. McGraw's jaw struck the rim of the pot, sustaining a fracture but he managed to continue the scene nonetheless.
  • The Guns of Navarone (1961). Actor David Niven almost drowned during filming of an ocean storm scene inside a large water tank. He sustained a cut lip that led the actor being hospitalized with septicemia, which halted production on the film for a month. He insisted on returning to complete filming of his scenes before he had fully recovered, later causing a relapse of his illness that resulted in another seven weeks in hospital.
  • Flower on Stone (1962). Soviet actress Inna Burduchenko suffered third degree burns while filming in a burning barracks on 30 July 1960. She died in the hospital on 15 August. Burudchenko was three months pregnant at the time of her death.
  • How the West Was Won (1962). Stuntman Bob Morgan, husband of Yvonne De Carlo, was seriously injured and lost a leg during a break in filming a gunfight on a moving train. Chains holding logs on a flatbed car broke, crushing Morgan as he crouched beside them.
  • Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Actor Peter O'Toole was nearly killed when he fell from his camel. He also injured his hand during filming by punching through the window of a caravan while drunk. A brace or bandage can be seen on his left thumb during the first train attack scene, presumably due to this incident.
  • The War Lover (1962). During aerial filming over the English Channel, parachutists jumped from a vintage B-17 to simulate a bail-out. One of the jumpers, Englishman Mike Reilly, drowned in the sea below.
  • Goldfinger (1964). Harold Sakata burned his hand while filming the fight at Fort Knox, where his character, Oddjob, gets electrocuted, but continued to act as the scene was still being filmed.
  • The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). On 8 July 1965, pilot Paul Mantz crashed and was killed on a second take making a low pass.
  • Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1965). Cameraman Robert King Baggot was killed during filming in Kauai when a huge wave hit his boat and washed him overboard.
  • Thunderball (1965). While filming the scene where SPECTRE agent Angelo crashes the Avro Vulcan into the ocean near The Bahamas, the stunt double for Angelo nearly drowned when the stunt double for Emilio Largo accidentally disconnected both the prop oxygen line and the double's actual oxygen line underneath.
  • High Jungle (1966). On 28 September 1966, Rawhide star Eric Fleming was filming in Peru. During the final stages of shooting, Fleming's dugout canoe overturned in the Huallaga River. Actor Nico Minardos managed to swim to safety, but Fleming was swept away by the current and drowned. Fleming was 41 when he died. His body was recovered three days later.
  • Pontiac commercial (1967). Cameraman Raffael John Esposito and actress Brenda Lee Meinsenheimer were killed in Thousand Oaks, California, when a camera boom suspended from an oncoming camera car crashed through the windshield of their car.
  • Battle of Britain (1969). Spanish air force pilot Don Federico Eglesias Lanzo was killed in a crash at Tablada, Seville.
  • Director (1969). Soviet actor Yevgeni Urbansky died in an accident while performing a stunt during filming on 5 November 1965.
  • Shark! (1969). A stuntman was mauled to death on camera when a shark, which was supposed to have been sedated, suddenly attacked.

    • 1970s

  • Barquero (1970). On August 28, 1969, Director Robert Sparr was killed in a plane crash while scouting filming locations with cameraman Gerald Finnerman. The single engine plane they were riding in went down near the Brush Hollow Reservoir outside of Penrose, Colorado. The pilot was also killed in the crash, but Finnerman survived. One of the film's stars, Lee Van Cleef, was scheduled to accompany Sparr and Finnerman on the scouting trip, but he backed out at the last minute.
  • Catch-22 (1970). Second unit director John Jordan was killed when he was sucked out of a B-25 Mitchell while filming a bombing scene. He refused to wear a safety harness while the plane was in flight.
  • Insee thong (1970). Thai star Mitr Chaibancha was killed while starring as his popular character, the masked crime-fighter Insee Daeng (Red Eagle). On the final day of shooting, Mitr was required to grab a rope ladder hanging from a helicopter. However he only managed to grab the lowest rung. Unaware of this, the helicopter pilot took off until Mitr finally lost his grip and fell to the ground. The accident was caught on film and appeared in the final theatrical release. The fall was removed from the DVD release version.
  • Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). During aerial rehearsals prior to shooting in Oahu, Hawaii, a Vultee BT-13, modified to resemble a Japanese Val dive-bomber, crashed in a sugar-cane field in Ewa, killing pilot Guy Thomas Strong.
  • Zeppelin (1970). During aerial filming over the Irish Sea, a replica SE5 biplane and an Alouette helicopter camera-ship collided in mid-air. Assistant-director Burch Williams (brother of producer Elmo Williams), cameraman Skeets Kelly and pilots Jim Liddy and Gilbert Chomat were all killed.
  • A Clockwork Orange (1971). During the film's pivotal brainwashing scene, Malcolm McDowell suffered a scratched cornea and temporary blindness from having his eyes propped open for so long.
  • Kamen Rider (1971). During a scene for Episode 9 ("The Terrifying Cobra-Man"), lead actor Hiroshi Fujioka fractured his thighbone in a motorcycle stunt when he rode into a telephone pole at 50 mph, forcing him out of action. Producers had to use stock and unused footage, which was dubbed by Rokurô Naya, for the next four episodes, causing a dip in the ratings. Producers eventually had no choice but to substitute him with a second character played by Takeshi Sasaki. Fujioka made a return in Episode 53 ("Monster Jaguarman - Deathmatch by Motorcycle Fight"). As neither actor could be axed, the show ended up having two heroes.
  • Von Richthofen and Brown (1971). Stunt pilot Charles Boddington was killed during filming when the vintage biplane he was flying crashed at Weston aerodrome near Dublin. The following day, another aircraft crashed, injuring pilot Lynn Garrison and actor Don Stroud.
  • Enter the Dragon (1972). During a fight scene, Robert Wall accidentally slashed Bruce Lee in the arm with a broken bottle. After the wound healed, Lee legitimately kicked Wall during the re-shoot with such force that an extra broke his arm trying to catch Wall.
  • The Godfather (1972). Gianni Russo broke two ribs and cracked his elbow after James Caan threw him over a fence and slammed a garbage can on him during a fight scene.
  • The Last Lion (1972). Sound technician James Chapman was mauled to death by a lion during production on this South African film.
  • The Bell from Hell (1973). On the final day of shooting of this Spanish/French horror film, director Claudio Guerrin Hill died after falling from the bell tower for which he named his film. He either jumped or fell accidentally. Juan Antonio Bardem came in to take care of the post production duties after Hill's death.
  • La Cloche Tibétaine (1973). On June 18, during the filming of episode 4, L'escadron d'or (The Golden Squandron), of this French mini-series, actor Roger Delgado and two Turkish film technicians were killed when their car went off of the road and fell into a ravine. Delgado, who was most famous for his role as the Master in the British film series Doctor Who, was 55 at the time of his death.
  • The Exorcist (1973). Actress Ellen Burstyn seriously injured her back while filming a scene where she falls over backwards after her possessed daughter backhands her. The scene was left in the film.
  • Primal Man (TV) (1974). Actor/stunt performer Janos Prohaska, his son Robert, and 34 others died in an airplane crash while filming this television series.
  • The Eiger Sanction (1975). A number of accidents occurred during the filming of The Eiger Sanction. A 27-year-old English climber, David Knowles, who was a body double and photographer, was killed during a rock fall, and mountaineer Mike Hoover narrowly escaped with his life.
  • The Great Waldo Pepper (1975). Experienced stunt pilot Frank Tallman, during filming of the aerial scenes, managed to perform two planned crashes without injury. However a third (accidental) crash occurred whilst landing a Nieuport biplane when a rudder bar broke at 400 feet, sending his aircraft nose-diving into a hill. Tallman survived but suffered two cracked vertebrae and he required 58 stitches and had to be taken off filming for two weeks.
  • Hand of Death (1976). According to his book I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Jackie Chan was completely knocked unconscious when he did the stunts on this film.
  • Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978). The Hiller UH-12 helicopter crash involving Jack Riley and George Wilson was entirely unintentional, but having not been seriously injured both actors continued by ad-libbing the rest of the scene, and ultimately it was included in the film.
  • Drunken Master (1978). Jackie Chan nearly lost an eye when his brow ridge was injured during a fight scene.
  • Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978). Actor Hwang Jang Lee knocked off one of Jackie Chan's teeth after kicking him in the face during a fight scene. Chan's arm was also slashed by a sword that was supposed to be blunt, but the camera kept rolling as he was screaming in pain.
  • Comes a Horseman (1978). Filming the scene where Jason Robards' character is dragged (presumably) to his death, his stunt double Jim Sheppard was killed when a horse that was dragging him veered from its course and caused him to hit his head on a fence post. The scene made it into the film, although it was cut right before the horse passed through the gate that killed Sheppard.
  • Apocalypse Now (1979). In the film's opening scene, Martin Sheen cut his hand after smashing a mirror; he was too drunk to realize that his hand was streaming in blood. During filming on 5 March 1977, Sheen suffered a heart attack. He returned on the set six weeks later.
  • CHiPs (1979). While filming an episode, Erik Estrada lost control of his motorcycle and was hurled into a parked car before the 900-pound motorcycle landed on him. Estrada sustained fractured ribs, partially collapsed lungs, a fractured right wrist, and a cracked sternum and clavicle.
  • Revenge (1979). Director Gordon Parks, Jr., cameraman Peter Gilfillian, and two others were killed in a plane crash while filming in Kenya.
  • Steel (1979). A.J. Bakunas died doubling for George Kennedy in a fall from the Kincaid Towers in Lexington, Kentucky. Bakunas had successfully performed a fall from the ninth floor of the construction site, but when he learned that Dar Robinson had broken his record high fall for a non-film related publicity stunt, Bakunas returned to perform the fall from the top of the 300-foot (91 m) construction site. Bakunas performed the fall expertly, but the airbag split and he was killed.

    • 1980s

  • The Dukes of Hazzard (1980). Assistant cameraman Rodney Mitchell was killed and eight other crew members were injured when their camera truck flipped while rehearsing a chase scene.
  • Kolilakkam (Shockwave, 1980). Indian actor Jayan was killed during a stunt scene where the helicopter he was on crashed.
  • Magnum, P.I. (1980). Cameraman Rob Van Der Kar was killed in a helicopter crash while filming an episode.
  • That's Incredible! (1980). On July 6, stunt motorcyclist Steve Lewis suffered extensive foot and knee injuries while attempting to jump over two cars speeding toward him at over 100 mph. On September 15, while performing a 170-foot jump over the fountains of Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada, stunt motorcyclist Gary Wells missed the landing ramp and crashed into a parking lot wall. He sustained a tear in the main artery of his heart, along with broken legs, a fractured pelvis, and a concussion. In addition, six spectators were injured when a 15-foot section of the wall gave way upon impact.
  • The Young Master (1980). Jackie Chan nearly suffocated when he injured his throat while filming a stunt scene.
  • The Cannonball Run (1981). Stuntwoman Heidi von Beltz was left a paraplegic after being thrown from her car during a crash. She died in October 2015, 35 years after the accident, aged 59.
  • The Five of Me (1981). Camera assistant Jack Tandberg was killed when he was struck by a driverless stunt car during filming of this TV movie.
  • For Your Eyes Only (1981). While filming a high speed chase in the bobsleigh run, the four-man bobsled came out of the run at the wrong place and hit a tree. One of its occupants, a young stuntman named Paolo Rigon, was killed. In the scene where James Bond and Melina Havelock are dragged across the ocean, the stunt doubles for both characters suffered cuts and lacerations when their backs scraped against the coral reef in the Bahamas.
  • Roar (1981). A film about a wildlife preservationist whose family came to visit him only to be met with his co-habitats, his vast collection of wild animals, which unfortunately attacked the film crew and actors who had to work alongside with, leaving over 70 of them injured on set including cinematographer Jan de Bont, who had his scalp lifted by a lion, resulting in 220 stitches. Lead actress Tippi Hedren fractured her leg and also had scalp wounds after being bucked off by an elephant while she was riding it in addition to being also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches. Melanie Griffith (Hedren's daughter) was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face. Because of the injuries on set, crew turnover was high as many never returned on set. John Marshall was bitten by one of the lions and required 56 stitches.
  • The Sword and the Sorcerer (1981). Stuntman Jack Tyree was killed while doing a high fall stunt at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. While performing a 78-foot fall in heavy costume and makeup, Tyree struck his airbag off center, resulting in a fatal impact.
  • That's Incredible! (1981). In March 1981 in Puʻunene, Hawaii, Australian stuntman Jim Bailey attempted to hang glide on the underside of a single-engine airplane, but upon takeoff, his safety harness snapped, leaving him dangling under the front landing gear about 500 feet above ground before falling to his death.
  • Blade Runner (1982). Daryl Hannah chipped her elbow in eight places during a scene where she accidentally slipped on the pavement and smashed the window of a parked car.
  • Dragon Lord (1982). Jackie Chan injured his chin during a fight scene, making it difficult for him to say his lines and direct the film.
  • First Blood (1982). In the scene where John Rambo jumped off a cliff and used a tree to break his fall, Sylvester Stallone broke several ribs after filming the scene three times. He also suffered bruises to his back after 19 takes of the jail scene where Deputy Art Galt (Jack Starrett) clubbed Rambo with a nightstick.
  • Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982). During the filming of the scene for the song "One of My Turns", in which the main character tears apart his hotel room, Bob Geldof injured his left hand while ripping off pieces of a wooden closet door; he can be seen briefly looking at his hand. Later in the scene, he is then seen with a shirt wrapped around his hand.
  • World War III (1982). During filming for this made-for-TV movie, director Boris Sagal was fatally injured when his skull was fractured as he walked into the tail rotor blade of a helicopter.
  • Untitled Australian TV commercial (1982). Cameraman Garry Hansen and two others were killed in a helicopter crash.
  • Coolie (1983). While filming a fight scene with Puneet Issar, Amitabh Bachchan was critically injured when he jumped over a table and the corner of the table struck his abdomen, resulting in a splenic rupture and blood loss. Filming was delayed for several months for Bachchan to recover from his injury.
  • High Road to China (1983). During filming in Yugoslavia, a helicopter crashed en route to location. All three on board–copter pilot Nigel Thornton, stunt pilot David Perrin and mechanic Jaron Anderson–were killed in the crash.
  • Midnite Spares (1983). Focus-puller David Brostoff was killed when, during filming of a motor race scene at Granville, Australia, one of the sprint-cars swerved off the track and struck him, driving his body through two fences. The filmmakers were criticized for a lack of a proper stunt coordinator at the scene and for allowing non-stunt drivers to drive at race-speed.
  • Never Say Never Again (1983). Steven Seagal, who was the fight choreographer for this film, broke Sean Connery's wrist while training.
  • Peterborough jump (1983). On September 5, 1983, Canadian stuntman Ken Carter attempted to jump a pond in Peterborough, Ontario, with a rocket-powered Pontiac Firebird. He overshot the target landing ramp and was killed when his car crashed on its roof.
  • Project A (1983). Jackie Chan injured his neck while shooting the film's famous clock tower fall scene.
  • The Right Stuff (1983). Stuntman Joseph Leonard Svec died while performing a parachute jump that recreated Chuck Yeager's escape from a stalling NF-104. In real life, Yeager's flight helmet had caught fire on colliding with the ejection seat's heated exhaust in mid-air. Svec carried a smoke canister during his freefall to simulate such fire. However, this may have intoxicated the stuntman, causing him to lose consciousness. He failed to open his parachute and fell to his death.
  • Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). On 23 July 1982, Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le (aged 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (aged 6) were killed by a helicopter during production when it was caught in the pyrotechnics flying low at 25 feet (8 metres). The tail rotor decapitated Morrow and Le and crushed Chen to death. The accident led to one of the most prolonged lawsuits in film history and resulted in some major changes in filming codes.
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). In June 1983, while filming in London, Harrison Ford herniated a disc in his back, forcing him to fly back to Los Angeles for an operation. He returned six weeks later.
  • Pepsi commercial (1984). While Michael Jackson was filming a television commercial with his siblings at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, a faulty pyrotechnic went off too early and set his hair on fire, inflicting second- and third-degree burns to his scalp and body. Jackson sued PepsiCo for damages and received a US$1.5 million settlement, which he donated to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, to establish the Michael Jackson Burn Center for Children. It is widely believed by unnamed sources that this accident resulted in Jackson's addiction to painkillers and obsession with plastic surgery until his death in 2009.
  • Cover Up (1985). While waiting for an episode filming to resume, actor Jon-Erik Hexum played Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum loaded with a blank. The gunshot fractured his skull and caused massive cerebral hemorrhaging when bone fragments were forced through his brain. He was rushed to Beverly Hills Medical Center, where he was pronounced brain dead.
  • Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). During filming in Coober Pedy, Australia, where temperatures reached 146 °F (63 Celsius), ten crew members collapsed from heat exhaustion.
  • Police Story (1985). During the film's famous pole sliding scene, Jackie Chan suffered third-degree burns on his hands, nearly broke the seventh and eighth vertebrae on his spine, dislocated his pelvis, and was nearly paralyzed.
  • The Protector (1985). Jackie Chan broke his hand while filming a stunt scene.
  • Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). During filming in Mexico, FX man Cliff Wenger, Jr. was accidentally killed by one of the film's explosions.
  • Rocky IV (1985). Demanding a sense of realism in the boxing match between Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago, Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren agreed to legitimately spar with each other. Stallone was airlifted from Canada to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, and placed on intensive care for eight days after Lundgren delivered a hard punch to his chest, causing his heart to swell and his blood pressure to exceed 200.
  • Runaway Train (1985). During filming in Alaska, a helicopter en route to location struck power lines and crashed, killing pilot Rick Holley.
  • Armour of God (1986). During the filming of a scene in which Jackie Chan jumped from a wall to a tree branch, Chan lost his grip on the branch and fell 15 feet to the ground below. He hit his head on a rock, causing part of his skull to crack and a fragment to lodge in his brain. He now has a plastic plug in a permanent hole in his skull and hearing loss in the right ear.
  • Vendetta dal futuro (Hands of Steel, 1986). During filming of the Italian sci-fi action film in Arizona, a helicopter attempted to fly beneath the Navajo Bridge but crashed, killing the pilot Dan Nasca and Italian actor Claudio Cassinelli.
  • Maximum Overdrive (1986). Director of photography Armando Nannuzzi was seriously injured when a radio-controlled lawnmower used in a scene went out of control and struck a block of wood used as a camera support, shooting out wood splinters. The splinters were fired at Nannuzzi's face, resulting in him losing an eye. Nannuzzi sued Stephen King on 18 February 1987, for $18 million in damages due to unsafe working practices. The suit was settled out of court.
  • Top Gun (1986). On 16 September 1985, aerobatic pilot Art Scholl crashed his Pitts S-2 camera-plane off the southern Californian coast near Carlsbad and neither was recovered.
  • The Wraith (1986). During filming of a car chase scene in the low-budget sci-fi action film in Arizona, assistant cameraman Bruce Ingram was killed when an overloaded camera car crashed on a mountain road.
  • Full Metal Jacket (1987). Actor Vincent D'Onofrio, who had deliberately increased his weight to 280 pounds in order to play the overweight Marine recruit, twisted his knee during filming of the boot-camp scenes, injuring it so badly, it required surgical reconstruction.
  • Million Dollar Mystery (1987). Stuntman Dar Robinson died in a motorcycle accident after a dangerous stunt had been filmed and the medics on the set had been dismissed. Robinson, famous for his jumps off Toronto's CN Tower drove his motorcycle off a cliff.
  • No Man's Land (1987). During filming, Charlie Sheen was knocked unconscious when a squib that hardened overnight detonated at the wrong time. He sustained lacerations to his face and a loss of hearing on one ear that lasted four weeks.
  • The Princess Bride (1987). Christopher Guest accidentally knocked Cary Elwes unconscious with the butt of his sword during a pivotal scene.
  • The Squeeze (1987). Veteran stuntman Victor Magnotta drowned while performing a car stunt in which he drove the vehicle off a Hoboken pier and plunged into the Hudson River. He was pinned in the car, and could not escape before drowning.
  • Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988). On location in the Philippines, a helicopter hired by the Cannon Group crashed into Manila Bay, killing four Filipino soldiers (who were working as extras) and wounding five other people on the ground. This helicopter accident occurred the same day the "not guilty" Twilight Zone verdict was handed down in a Los Angeles Superior Court.
  • Die Hard (1988). Bruce Willis lost two-thirds of his hearing after firing a gun loaded with extra loud blanks from underneath a table.
  • Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988). While filming a rooftop scene, Ellie Cornell accidentally slipped and her torso was cut by a large nail. She lost a large amount of blood but recovered, going on to continue on with the film.
  • Red Heat (1988). Stuntman and director Bennie Dobbins suffered a fatal heart attack whilst filming a fight scene in freezing conditions outdoors in Austria. The scene required Arnold Schwarzenegger and another actor to fight near-naked in deep snow. Dobbins over-exerted himself trying to install fan heaters in the snow to prevent the actors suffering hypothermia.
  • Back to the Future Part II (1989). During a "hoverboard" stunt scene, stuntwoman Cheryl Wheeler-Dixon was accidentally bounced off a pillar before falling thirty feet onto concrete, sustaining serious facial and wrist injuries.
  • Cyborg (1989). Whilst filming, Jackson "Rock" Pinckney lost his eye during filming when Jean-Claude Van Damme accidentally struck his eye with a prop knife. Pinckney sued Van Damme in a North Carolina court and was awarded $487,500.
  • Gone in 60 Seconds 2 (1989, unfinished). Director/actor H. B. Halicki was killed in Buffalo, New York, when a water tower he was planning to topple fell prematurely, hitting a telephone pole that then struck him in the head. The film was scrapped as a result of the accident.
  • Hired to Kill (1989). Clint Carpenter was killed in a helicopter crash.
  • The Return of the Musketeers (1989). On 20 September 1988, Roy Kinnear suffered a broken pelvis in a horseback riding accident and died of a heart attack the following day.
  • The Sword of Tipu Sultan (1989). The largest number of on-set deaths in film history took place during the filming of this Indian made-for-TV movie. A total of 62 extras and crew members met their demise when a fire broke out, and they were trapped inside the burning film studio. Director and star Sanjay Khan suffered major burns and had to spend 13 months in hospital – undergoing 72 surgeries in that time.

    • 1990s

  • Back to the Future Part III (1990). In the scene where Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen and his gang roped and hanged Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox lost consciousness for a few seconds from being hanged before an extra realized he was legitimately being asphyxiated and the noose was lowered.
  • Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection (1990). Five people were killed in a helicopter crash during filming in the Philippines. The fatalities here were: Jojo Imperiale (pilot), Geoff Brewer (actor), Gadi Danzig (cameraman), Mike Graham (key grip) and Don Marshall (gaffer).
  • Armour of God II: Operation Condor (1991). Jackie Chan dislocated his sternum after falling off a hanging chain while filming a stunt scene.
  • Bikini Island (1991). Stuntman Jay C. Currin was killed the first day of filming when a stunt fall off a 55-foot cliff went wrong and he landed on some rocks instead of the airbag that had been placed to break his fall.
  • Highlander II: The Quickening (1991). Christopher Lambert and Michael Ironside both suffered injuries during filming. Lambert chipped one of Ironside's teeth during a fight scene, while Ironside inadvertently chopped off part of Lambert's finger during a sword fight scene.
  • The Royal Family (1991). On 11 October, Redd Foxx died of a heart attack while rehearsing for an episode.
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Linda Hamilton suffered permanent hearing damage in one ear during filming when she fired a gun inside an elevator without using her ear plugs. She also injured her knees from falling on the ground during multiple re-shoots of her character being hit with a nightstick by actor Ken Gibbel. Frustrated by Gibbel's refusal to hit her properly, Hamilton legitimately knocked him out with a broom handle during the escape scene. Arnold Schwarzenegger nearly broke some fingers while twirling his shotgun with one hand. While there was a shotgun with a lever loop lengthened to fit Schwarzenegger's hand, he mistakenly picked up a standard sized unit and injured his hand while attempting the stunt.
  • The Bodyguard (1992). A worker died when he was crushed between two lighting equipment cranes during filming.
  • Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992). Jackie Chan dislocated a cheekbone while filming a stunt scene.
  • Wind (1992). Australian stuntman Chris Anderson had to have a leg amputated below the knee after he was severely injured when a 30-foot yacht collided with the jet-boat on which Anderson was eating his lunch during a break in filming.
  • 999 (1993). Whilst recreating a real life near-fatal parachute incident in which a parachutist tangled his equipment with the aircraft's landing gear before freeing himself, veteran stuntman Tip Tipping leapt out of a Cessna and crashed into woods near Ellingham, Northumberland, he was pronounced dead when medical staff arrived.
  • City Hunter (1993). Jackie Chan dislocated his shoulder while filming a stunt scene.
  • Crime Story (1993). Jackie Chan's legs were crushed between two cars during a dangerous stunt scene.
  • Gettysburg (1993). During filming of the battle scenes on Little Round Top, Bradley Egen, an extra playing a Union soldier, was unintentionally struck in the head by the butt of a musket and suffered a severe concussion.
  • Sliver (1993). Cameraman Michael Benson suffered lung injuries after a helicopter crash left him trapped for two days inside a Hawaiian volcano crater. The crew aboard the helicopter was flying over an active volcano to shoot the film's original opening sequence, but the footage was lost in the crash.
  • The Crow (1994). On 31 March 1993, American actor and martial artist Brandon Lee was accidentally shot and killed in North Carolina with a .44 magnum gun that was intended to fire blanks but contained a bullet left behind after a dummy round had been inserted and removed. Also, on 1 February 1993 on the opening day of filming a carpenter was severely shocked and burned when his scissor lift struck power lines.
  • Rumble in the Bronx (1995). Jackie Chan broke his right foot while performing a stunt. He spent the rest of the shooting time with a cast on the leg, using a sock painted to match his left shoe.
  • Vampire in Brooklyn (1995). Angela Bassett's stunt double Sonja Davis fell to her death in a stunt gone wrong. Her death led to a $50 million wrongful-death lawsuit against Paramount Pictures.
  • Waterworld (1995). During production, actresses Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tina Majorino were thrown overboard from the trimaran they were on when its bowsprit snapped. Nearly a dozen rescue divers jumped in and brought them back on board. Kevin Costner nearly died when he was caught in a squall while tied to the mast of his trimaran. In addition, several cast and crew members suffered from seasickness and jellyfish stings. One of the extras was lost at sea during the filming of the jet ski scene.
  • Seven (1995). In a scene where Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt) chased John Doe in the rain, Pitt fell and his arm went through a car windscreen, requiring surgery. This accident was written into the script to explain Pitt wearing a cast over his arm. Coincidentally, the original script did call for Pitt's character to be injured during this sequence but not to his hand.
  • Ah Kam (1996). On October 1995, actress Michelle Yeoh, who usually performs her own stunts, was seriously injured during shooting of the film about the life of a stuntwoman, when she misjudged an 18-foot (5.5 m) jump off a bridge onto a truck. She fractured a vertebra and was in traction for a month. The sequence can be seen at the end of the film.
  • Black & Decker commercial (1996). Veteran pilot Michael Tamburro died after suffering a broken neck and head injuries in a helicopter crash caused by hitting a main rotor blade on a rock on the side of a desert butte. Co-pilot Alan Purwin suffered a broken arm, and flying debris from the crash injured a crew member. Producers Propaganda Films had not obtained a permit to use a helicopter when filming, which the firm claimed was due to an unintentional oversight.
  • Love Serenade (1996). During the filming of a scene on a grain silo, stuntman Collin Dragsbaek (doubling actor George Shetsov) died when he fell onto a faulty airbag.
  • The Edge (1997). While filming a scene, Anthony Hopkins accidentally fell into a frigid river and had to be treated for hypothermia.
  • Gone Fishin' (1997). Janet Wilder was killed and four other people, including her husband, were injured when a speedboat driver misjudged a ramp and the speedboat landed in a crowd.
  • Mr. Nice Guy (1997). Jackie Chan hurt his neck when he messed up on a flip during a fight scene.
  • Titanic (1997). Several extras were injured during the film's climactic sinking scene where passengers fell and hit parts of the ship. Injuries ranged from a broken ankle to cracked ribs, a fractured cheekbone, and a ruptured spleen. Kate Winslet suffered pneumonia from filming the water scenes after she refused to wear a wetsuit under her dress. During the scene where Jack and Rose were running away from an ocean wave in the hallways, Winslet's coat snagged on a gate, pulling her down and nearly drowning her. On the final night of shooting in Nova Scotia, 80 cast and crew members were hospitalized after pranksters spiked the clam chowder at the catering area with PCP.
  • Blade (1998). While filming his hospital attack scene, Donal Logue dislocated his jaw. He was rushed to a real hospital, where he was mistaken as a burn victim due to his makeup. Logue's stunt double broke his leg in another scene.
  • Blues Brothers 2000 (1998). While filming a stunt scene, a car rolled onto two crew members, one of whom needed a leg amputation. Three months later, during filming for a car crash sequence, stuntman Bob Minor suffered severe injuries to his head.
  • Galapagos: The Enchanted Voyage (1998). Noel Archambault, the film's camera operator/stereographer, was killed in an ultralight aircraft crash along with the pilot, William Raisner Jr., while filming in the Galápagos Islands. The men were found at an elevation of 3,000 feet on Cerro Azul, one of the two most active volcanoes in the archipelago.
  • Mighty Joe Young (1998). Director of photography Don Peterman and camera operator Ray de la Motte were injured while preparing a crane shot in July 1997 in Thousand Oaks, California. Both suffered extensive neck and head injuries.

    • 2000s

  • Cast Away (2000). While filming, Tom Hanks cut his leg. Two weeks later, the swelling on his leg persisted, and Hanks was confined to a hospital for three weeks to treat a staph infection that would have killed him from blood poisoning.
  • Dinosaur (2000). A crew member was killed and another seriously wounded when a camera boom struck a cross-country power line.
  • Taxi 2 (2000). A Peugeot 406 was supposed to land in a pile of cardboard after a stunt, but missed and hit several crew. Camerman Alain Dutartre died later of internal injuries while his assistant Jean-Michel Bar broke both legs.
  • X-Men (2000). Hugh Jackman suffered facial scratches during a fight scene with Rebecca Romijn when a chain wrapped around his hand and his Wolverine claws came loose and struck him.
  • The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003). During the filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Sean Astin stepped on a shard of glass that injured his foot. During the filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Viggo Mortensen broke two of his toes kicking a helmet. As he fell to his knees, that specific take was incorporated into the scene. Some time after this accident, he also almost drowned in a current. In addition, Mortensen chipped a tooth in the Battle of Helm's Deep. Orlando Bloom cracked a rib during the filming of The Two Towers after falling off his horse.
  • Exit Wounds (2001). During filming in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, a van was being towed along a street upside-down as part of a chase scene; stuntman Chris Lamon and another man were supposed to roll safely out, but Lamon struck his head, and died six days later.
  • Moulin Rouge! (2001). Nicole Kidman fractured two ribs and hurt her right knee while filming. Many of the scenes had to be shot with her sitting down in order to cover her leg cast.
  • Pearl Harbor (2001). A stunt plane dressed like a Japanese fighter crashed during a flight over the movie set. The pilot survived the crash escaping serious injuries.
  • Bayahibe dive (2002). On October 12, 2002, professional diver Audrey Mestre attempted to set a freediving record off Bayahibe Beach in the Dominican Republic, but upon reaching 171 meters (561 feet), her lift balloon malfunctioned and she lost consciousness for over eight minutes during her ascent. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
  • Dark Angel (2002). Professional wrestler Lita suffered three cracks on her vertebrae when she performed a dangerous wrestling maneuver on a stunt double, who dropped her neck-first.
  • Die Another Day (2002). Halle Berry injured an eye from the debris of a smoke grenade. In the sex scene with Pierce Brosnan, she nearly choked to death with a fig in her mouth.
  • The Messenger (2002). Russian actor and director Sergei Bodrov, Jr. and 42 film crew members were killed in the Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide after finishing the second day of shooting on 20 September.
  • XXX (2002). Vin Diesel's stunt double, Harry L. O'Connor, was killed during filming, in a scene in which he was supposed to rappel down a parasailing line and land on a submarine but struck a bridge at high speed and was killed instantly.
  • 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (2003). John Ritter suffered an undiagnosed aortic dissection while rehearsing for an episode on 11 September. He was rushed to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, where he died during surgery.
  • Gothika (2003). Halle Berry broke her arm while filming a scene with Robert Downey, Jr. in a mental ward. In the scene, Downey was restraining Berry when he suddenly heard a pop and realized he hurt her.
  • The Last Samurai (2003). During filming of the final battle sequence, a horse's hind leg kicked an extra in the groin. Despite the pain, the extra, who was playing a Samurai foot soldier, remained standing and composed. The incident can be clearly seen in the movie.
  • Ripley's Believe It or Not! (2003). While filming an episode near Kingman, Arizona, a filming helicopter flew into a power line. David Gibbs, the helicopter pilot, had his pilot's license suspended for the accident. Gibbs would later on be involved in another helicopter accident in 2013 that killed him and two passengers.
  • Underworld (2003). Scott Speedman suffered a concussion when a set prop that was supposed to be a piece of the wall Viktor had just thrown him through hit him in the head.
  • Along Came Polly (2004). Ben Stiller was bitten on the chin by a ferret, requiring a rabies shot.
  • Catwoman (2004). Halle Berry suffered a head injury after hitting a lighting prop.
  • CrossBones (2004). Cinematographer Neal Fredericks was killed when the Cessna from which he was filming crashed near the Dry Tortugas off the coast of Florida on 14 August 2004. Though the director, pilot, and two other crew members were able to escape, Fredericks could not free himself from his harness and drowned.
  • Khakee (2004). Aishwarya Rai was hit by a runaway jeep during filming and suffered a fractured foot.
  • The Passion of the Christ (2004). In playing the role of Jesus Christ, Jim Caviezel sustained gashes to his back from multiple whippings, hypothermia, and a separated shoulder from carrying a giant cross. He was also struck by lightning before filming the Sermon of the Mount scene.
  • The Phantom of the Opera (2004). A worker suffered severe injuries when he was thrown from scaffolding that was not properly secured on the set of the film. Actor Patrick Wilson fell off his horse approximately three times while filming his own stunt scene at riding the horse bareback. He also nearly drowned while filming the water scenes in the lake.
  • Top Gear (2004). While filming the "Cheap Car Challenge" for Series 4 Episode 3, co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson fractured his right thumb after crashing his Volvo 760 GLE into a block wall.
  • Troy (2004). Brad Pitt who played Achilles had a mishap during the production and tore his left achilles tendon. George Camilleri, a bodybuilding extra, broke his leg while filming an action sequence at Ghajn Tuffieha. He was operated on the following day but suffered complications and died two weeks later.
  • Æon Flux (2005). Charlize Theron was performing backflips during filming and landed on her neck, herniating a disc close to her spinal cord. Production was shut down for eight weeks.
  • Cinderella Man (2005). During the first scene in the ring, Russell Crowe dislocated his shoulder. He also sustained other boxing-related injuries during filming.
  • Syriana (2005). George Clooney broke his spine in a stunt gone wrong. The injury was so painful that he contemplated committing suicide while recovering.
  • Top Gear (2005). In Series 6 Episode 7, Jeremy Clarkson slipped two discs in his back while test driving the TVR Sagaris.
  • Jackass Number Two (2006). During filming of the closing scene Ryan Dunn was performing a stunt with Bam Margera in which both of them are pulled out of shot by a running horse by a rope tied around their feet. Dunn dropped straight onto his shoulder, causing damage to the muscles and leading to a life-threatening blood clot near his heart and brain.
  • Ocean's Deadliest (2006). On 4 September 2006, Steve Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray spine while snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, at Batt Reef, which is located off the coast of Port Douglas in north Queensland. Irwin was in the area filming the documentary, but weather had stalled filming. He decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for a segment in the television program his daughter Bindi was hosting when the ray suddenly turned and lashed out at him with the spine on its tail.
  • Top Gear (2006). While filming a challenge for Series 9 Episode 1 in Yorkshire, Richard Hammond crashed a dragster at 288 mph, seriously injuring his brain. His front-right tire failed on the seventh run that caused him to hit the grass and roll the Vampire he was driving. During the roll, Hammond's helmet had embedded itself into the ground, flipping the visor up and forcing dirt into his mouth and left eye, damaging the eye. Rescuers felt a pulse and heard the unconscious Hammond breathing before the car was turned upright. Hammond also hurt his neck in the "Cheap Car Challenge of " Series 8 Episode 8 when his Suzuki Super Carry rolled over.
  • Wowowee (2006). A stampede occurred at PhilSports Football and Athletics Stadium, where the Philippine game show was filming its first anniversary episode. The stampede killed 73 people and injured 392 others. The incident is cited in the 2007 Guinness World Records as "the greatest death toll in a game show."
  • Past Tense (2006). During the production of this Lifetime film, Gabrielle Carteris suffered from partial facial paralysis and a speech impediment from a scene where her character was choked and dragged down a flight of stairs by actor Adrian Hughes. She sued the film's producers for medical expenses, loss of earnings, and various damages.
  • Charlie Wilson's War (2007). A special effects assistant was critically injured when a prop missile exploded.
  • Fifth Gear (2007). During the filming of Series 12, episode 7, presenter Tom Ford broke his foot and several toes when he crashed a modified Bedford Rascal van while recording a piece about drifting. BTCC driver Jason Plato suffered multiple burns when a Caparo T1 he was driving at Bruntingthorpe proving ground burst into flames.
  • The Final Season (2007). Cameraman Roland Schlotzhauer was killed during filming when the helicopter he was on hit power lines and crashed into a field. The helicopter pilot and one of the film's producers were seriously injured.
  • Live Free or Die Hard (2007). Bruce Willis was injured during a fight scene when he was kicked above his right eye by Maggie Q's stunt double, who was wearing stiletto heels. Willis was hospitalized and received seven stitches that ran through his right eyebrow and down into the corner of his eye. Willis' stunt double Larry Rippenkroeger was knocked unconscious when he fell 25 feet (7.6 m) from a fire escape to the pavement. Rippenkroeger suffered broken bones in his face, several broken ribs, a punctured lung, and fractures in both wrists. Due to his injuries, production was temporarily shut down. Willis personally paid the hotel bills for Rippenkroeger's parents and visited him a number of times at the hospital.
  • P.S. I Love You (2007). While filming a comedic stripping scene, Gerard Butler's suspender strap snapped off and hit Hilary Swank in the forehead, requiring stitches to patch up the cut.
  • Chocolate (2008). Yanin Vismitananda and several stunt actors suffered multiple bruises and cuts while shooting the film's fight scenes. A montage of the film injuries is featured in the ending credits.
  • The Dark Knight (2008). Cameraman Conway Wickliffe was killed in 2007 on the set of The Dark Knight, as he rode in a pickup truck driving parallel to a stunt car; the pickup missed a 90-degree turn and crashed into a tree.
  • Jumper (2008). Set dresser David Ritchie was crushed to death by frozen debris as an exterior set was being dismantled.
  • Red Cliff (2008/2009). While filming a scene in which a small boat was set on fire and was to ram a larger boat, the fire spread quickly out of control, killing stuntman Lu Yanqing and injuring six others.
  • Top Gear (2008). In Series 11 Episode 5, Jeremy Clarkson hurt his neck while testing a Nissan GT-R at Fuji Speedway. In Series 12 Episode 1, Clarkson injured his torso while driving a Renault Magnum around a skidpad at a high speed. In the same segment, he hurt his head and ankle after driving the Magnum through a solid brick wall. In the Vietnam Special, Clarkson sustained cuts and bruises after falling off his Vespa when he hit a pothole.
  • Valkyrie (2008). During filming, the side of a vintage truck detached as the vehicle turned a sharp corner, causing a number of extras on board to fall out. One man was seriously injured and 10 more suffered minor injuries. The extras involved later filed a lawsuit against the production.
  • 63rd Tony Awards (2009). After performing the opening number with his band Poison, lead vocalist Bret Michaels was struck in the head by a descending set and knocked to the floor. He suffered a fractured nose and a split lip that required three stitches. Michaels subsequently sued the event's organizers, claiming that the collision led to his 2010 brain hemorrhage. The suit was settled in May 2012 for an undisclosed amount.
  • Dulha Mil Gaya (2009). Shahrukh Khan sustained a shoulder injury while filming an action scene.
  • G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009). During an explosion effects misfire, Sienna Miller's suit caught fire, igniting the area between her breasts.
  • Inglourious Basterds (2009). In the scene where Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) strangled Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) to death, director Quentin Tarantino stood in as Waltz's body double to give the scene more realism. Consequently, Kruger briefly lost consciousness from being strangled by Tarantino.
  • Nitro Circus (2009). Johnny Knoxville was attempting to do a back flip on a Moto X bike. He was halfway into the rotation when disaster struck. He bailed, he hit the ground hard and the bike landed on top of him. The handlebars hit his crotch, leaving him with serious genitalia injuries (tearing his urethra). As a result, he has to flush his bladder periodically by means of a Catheter. Knoxville said the process prevented scar tissue from forming. Motocross racer Jolene Van Vugt broke her wrist after coming short of a 65-foot triple jump. She needed a metal plate attached with seven screws on her wrist and had to wear an arm cast throughout the second season.
  • The Tournament (2009). In a botched attempt to turn over a semi-trailer truck with an air cannon for a chase scene, a piece of iron debris flew toward the production crew and hit assistant director Shero Rauf. Rauf broke both legs in that accident, which took him almost two years to walk normally again.

    • 2010s

  • The Expendables (2010). Sylvester Stallone injured his neck while filming a fight scene with Steve Austin. He required a metal plate inserted into his neck during surgery.
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2010/2011). During production at Leavesden, Daniel Radcliffe's stunt double David Holmes suffered a serious spinal injury during the filming of an aerial sequence, which left him paralysed. Holmes fell to the ground following an explosion that was part of the stunt.
  • Robin Hood (2010). A cast extra was injured during the filming of a battle scene at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, Wales. In addition, Russell Crowe badly bruised his heels during the film's production.
  • Top Gear (2010). In Series 15 Episode 4, Jeremy Clarkson had a bee lodged in his nostril while test driving a Porsche 997 Turbo Cabriolet. In Series 16 Episode 2, James May suffered a concussion after hitting his head on a rock while helping Richard Hammond pull Clarkson's Mazda MX-5 up a slope and the recovery strap slung him backwards.
  • Wetten, dass..? (2010). In the December 4 episode of this German entertainment series, stuntman Samuel Koch attempted to powerbock over five moving cars in succession when his head hit the windshield of the fourth car (driven by his father), causing him to crash to the ground head-first, fracturing two vertebrae and rendering him quadriplegic.
  • Campus PD (2011). Cameraman Greg Jacobsen was killed in a helicopter crash while filming at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania
  • The Eagle (2011). When filming in a freezing river, actors have a mixture of boiling hot water and river water poured down their suits to stay warm. A crew member forgot to mix the hot water with the river water during filming; as a result, Channing Tatum was scalded with boiling water that burned the skin off the tip of his penis.
  • The Hangover Part II (2011). Australian stuntman Scott McLean suffered critical brain damage while filming in Bangkok after a taxi he was leaning out of the window of failed to dodge another vehicle, causing McLean's head to collide with it, "leaving him with a huge gash over the right side of his head and flesh torn from his skull". Warner Bros. then issued a statement stating McLean was put into a medically induced coma, and were reportedly paying his hospital bills. McLean soon recovered, stating he had suffered "likely permanent brain and physical injuries" before suing the studio for unspecified damages.
  • Players (2011). Neil Nitin Mukesh suffered four fractures while filming.
  • Scott May's Daredevil Stunt Show (2011). In April 2011 in Detling, Kent, England, stuntman Matthew Cranch attempted his human cannonball stunt when a faulty quick release mechanism caused the safety net to collapse before he was launched in the air. With no safety net to break his fall, Cranch was killed upon impact on the ground.
  • Selfridge Air Show (2011). Wing walker Todd Green attempted to transfer from a biplane to a helicopter in mid-air when he lost his grip and fell 200 feet to his death.
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). An extra was seriously injured during a stunt in Hammond, Indiana. Due to a failed weld, a steel cable snapped from a car being towed and hit the extra's car, damaging her skull. The extra, identified as Gabriela Cedillo, had to undergo brain surgery. The injury has left her permanently brain-damaged, paralyzed on her left side and her left eye stitched shut. In May 2012, it was revealed that a $18 million settlement had been reached between Paramount and the Cedillo family. As a result of this accident, recycled footage from one of Michael Bay's previous movies, The Island, was used instead with CG robots inserted into the footage.
  • Agneepath (2012). Hrithik Roshan suffered numerous injuries during production. He sustained burns on his hands when Priyanka Chopra's lehenga caught fire. He suffered an eye injury from Holi colors thrown to his face during a musical scene. He also sustained a major back injury from lifting a 110 kg man during an action scene.
  • The Avengers (2012). While performing a 30-foot fall from a building, stuntman Jeremy Fitzgerald slammed into a pile of bricks and tore off a chunk of his scalp.
  • Cloud Atlas (2012). Halle Berry broke her right foot while on location in Mallorca, Spain. The filming schedule had to be altered to allow Berry's foot to heal within two-and-a-half weeks. She re-injured her foot during filming when she slipped off a rock.
  • Django Unchained (2012). During a pivotal scene, Leonardo DiCaprio slammed his hand on a table so hard that he broke a glass and cut his hand. Despite gushing blood, DiCaprio finished the take, which is included in the finished cut of the film. In another incident, actor Christoph Waltz dislocated a pelvic bone when he fell from a horse during riding practice.
  • The Expendables 2 (2012). While filming in Elin Pelin, Bulgaria, a stuntman was killed and another was left in critical condition during a staged explosion on a rubber boat. The surviving stuntman underwent a five-hour operation that reportedly left him in stable condition. In addition, both Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger required shoulder surgery after filming.
  • The Hobbit (2012-2014). As many as 27 animals were killed during the production of this film, mainly from the hazardous conditions of the farm they were housed in. Several goats and sheep fell into a sinkhole under the farm. One horse was hobbled and left on the ground for three hours. Another horse was killed after falling off an embankment of an overcrowded paddock. One horse had the skin and muscles of her leg torn off by wire fencing. Several chickens were mauled to death by unsupervised dogs or trampled by larger animals. This led to a global protest against the film by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
  • Nitro Circus: The Movie (2012). Mountain biker and freestyle rider Jim DeChamp sustained a broken vertebra and severe head trauma as a result of a car stunt gone wrong.
  • Premium Rush (2012). While filming in the streets of New York City, Joseph Gordon-Levitt lost control of his bicycle and collided with the back of a taxicab before flying towards its rear windscreen. He required 31 stitches after his right forearm was slashed by the impact.
  • Rowdy Rathore (2012). Akshay Kumar injured his shoulder while shooting the film's climax scene.
  • The Call (2013). While filming, Halle Berry was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after she fell and hit her head on a concrete floor while shooting a fight sequence. A spokesperson for Berry confirmed that she suffered a minor head injury and was taken to the hospital as a precaution, but she checked out healthy and was released.
  • Dangerous Flights (2013). On 24 February 2013, cameraman/director John Driftmier and conservationist Dr. Anthony King were killed in a plane crash in Kenya. Driftmier was shooting footage for the documentary when the plane, an Aeroprakt A-22L ultralight (registration 5Y-LWF) crashed into the east face of Mount Kenya. Although only a preliminary report has been published thus far, it is believed that a large downdraft forced the ultralight into an unrecoverable descent into the mountain. Driftmier and King were the only occupants.
  • Fast & Furious 6 (2013). Paul Walker sustained a torn ACL while performing a stunt, requiring surgery while the production team filmed around his scenes until his recovery.
  • G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013). A crew member was killed while dismantling a set in New Orleans, Louisiana, when the scissor lift he was on tipped over, causing him to fall to his death.
  • Iron Man 3 (2013). Robert Downey, Jr. injured his ankle while performing a stunt in Wilmington, North Carolina, delaying filming for a month and a half.
  • Kick-Ass 2 (2013). Chloë Grace Moretz's stunt double was thrown into a wall by Mother Russia, and she cracked her head open.
  • Lone Operator (2013, unaired). During filming of this planned Discovery Channel series, cameraman Darren Rydstrom, cast member Michael Donatelli, and pilot David Gibbs were killed in a helicopter crash in Acton, California. Gibbs was not authorized by the FAA to fly during the morning hours, and he had his pilot's license suspended twice prior to the accident.
  • The Lone Ranger (2013). While filming a horseback riding scene, the saddle on Johnny Depp's horse suddenly came loose, causing Depp to fall off and nearly get trampled by the horse. Depp walked away with some cuts on his chest. In another incident, diver Michael Bridger drowned while cleaning a 24-foot-deep water tank to be used in the film's underwater scene.
  • Now You See Me (2013). While filming the water chamber escape scene, Isla Fisher nearly drowned when she had difficulty unlocking her shackles and was stuck in the chamber for less than three minutes.
  • Nurse 3D (2013). During filming in Toronto, Paz de la Huerta was struck by a reckless ambulance driver. She suffered a broken tailbone and spinal fracture, which required more than 20 surgeries.
  • Shootout at Wadala (2013). Anil Kapoor accidentally shot a blank at John Abraham from a distance of 1.5 meters, grazing Abraham's right side of his neck.
  • Thor: The Dark World (2013). Jaimie Alexander suffered severe injuries when she slipped off a metal staircase during a rainy morning on the set. The fall caused her to slip a disc in her thoracic spine and chip 11 of her vertebrae, as well as dislocate her left shoulder and tear a rhomboid on her right side. The injuries took her out of filming for a month.
  • Top Gear Korea (2013). During the filming of a race in the Arizona desert between a Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 and a Bell AH-1 Cobra, the helicopter wheeled around 180° before impacting the ground. Nobody was seriously injured.
  • Vectren Dayton Air Show (2013). On June 22, 2013, during an aerial acrobatic show, a plane lost control and crashed and burst into flames, killing pilot Charlie Schwenker and wing walker Jane Wicker.
  • Zip-lining stunt (2013). On April 28, 2013, Indian stuntman Sailendra Nath Roy, who held numerous records for pulling vehicles with his ponytail, attempted to break his own zip-lining record across the Teesta River in Darjeeling with only his hair when his hair was tangled in the rope wheeler halfway, leaving him dangling for over 25 minutes before he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.
  • Cops (2014). While filming a shooting incident at a Wendy's in Omaha, Nebraska, audio technician Bryce Dion was accidentally shot by Omaha Police Department gunfire. He and the suspect were pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
  • The Expendables 3 (2014). While filming in Varna, Bulgaria, a truck driven by Jason Statham lost its brakes and fell into the Black Sea. Statham was able to swim out of the accident unharmed.
  • Falling Skies (2014). Security guard Amrik Singh Gill was crushed by a runaway truck as the crew prepared for the next day's shooting in Robert Burnaby Park, Burnaby, Canada.
  • Foxcatcher (2014). Channing Tatum sustained multiple injuries during the production of this film. He broke his hand while training with other wrestlers. Mark Ruffalo accidentally popped Tatum's eardrum when he slapped him hard in one scene. In a pivotal scene, Tatum cut his forehead after headbutting a mirror through the wall, narrowly missing a stud.
  • Fury (2014). During filming in Oxfordshire, a stuntman was accidentally stabbed in the shoulder by a bayonet during rehearsals.
  • Gunday (2014). While filming a dance scene, Ranveer Singh fell off a platform and landed face-first, gashing his cheek.
  • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014). While filming the scene where Jennifer Lawrence's character, Katniss Everdeen, leads a rebellion against the Capitol through a tunnel filled with smoke, a malfunctioning fog machine emitted too much smoke, causing her to collapse and cough heavily from the fumes.
  • Midnight Rider: The Gregg Allman Story (2014, unfinished). Second camera assistant Sarah Jones was struck and killed by a freight train, and several crew members were injured, on 20 February 2014 when they attempted to shoot a scene with a hospital bed on an active railroad trestle at a location outside of Savannah, Georgia. The railroad company responsible for the tracks has claimed that the production crew did not have permission to film there. As a consequence, the Safety for Sarah movement was launched to campaign and demand for increased safety in future film productions.
  • Nightcrawler (2014). Jake Gyllenhaal received several stitches after cutting his hand from an intense scene where his character destroyed a bathroom mirror.
  • Top Gear (2014). During the Burma special in Series 21 Episode 6, Richard Hammond fell off a horse and had to be rushed to a hospital. In the Patagonia Special, James May cracked three ribs while attempting to mount a horse.
  • 1864 (2015). During filming of the battles of the series, 18 extras collapsed due to wearing large woolen winter coats in the middle of summer where temperatures reached 43 degrees Celsius.
  • Dropped (2015). During the shooting of the French reality TV series on 9 March, two helicopters collided, killing 10 people. The helicopters were reported to be heading to a gorge in northwestern Argentina for the French broadcaster TF1. Eight French passengers and the choppers' two Argentinian pilots died in the midair crash near the town of Villa Castelli in La Rioja province, Argentina's state news agency Telam reported, citing local authorities. The dead included the famed sailor Florence Arthaud, who in 1990 broke the record for crossing the North Atlantic alone; the swimmer Camille Muffat, who won three medals at the 2012 Olympics in London; and the boxer Alexis Vastine, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
  • Ip Man 3 (2015). While filming a fight scene, Donnie Yen accidentally fractured Mike Tyson's left index finger.
  • Point Break (2015). Australian surfer Laurie Towner, who was Luke Bracey's stunt double, broke his jaw and suffered other wounds while filming the surfing scene in Teahupo'o in mid-September 2014.
  • Spectre (2015). In February 2015, while shooting a fight scene, Daniel Craig sprained his knee. He returned to work within days.
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). On 12 June 2014, Harrison Ford fractured a bone in his leg while filming at Pinewood Studios after a hydraulic door fell on him, and was subsequently taken to a hospital to receive treatment. Filming was initially expected to continue as planned as Ford received treatment, though it was later revealed that production was suspended for two weeks to accommodate Ford's injury. Ford's son Ben released details on his father's injury saying that his ankle will likely need a plate and screws and that filming could be altered slightly with the crew needing to shoot Ford from the waist up for a short time until he recovered. Director J. J. Abrams also injured his back while helping lift the hydraulic door off Ford's leg.
  • Kadavul Irukaan Kumaru (2016). G. V. Prakash Kumar and RJ Balaji were injured in a car accident during the filming of an action sequence near Tindivanam.
  • Masti Gudi (2016). On November 7, 2016, actors Anil Kumar and Raghava Uday drowned in Thippagondanahalli Reservoir near Bangalore, when they took a 60 feet plunge from a chopper while shooting the film's climax scene. A rescue motorboat scheduled to pull the actors out of the water did not start, resulting in immediate drowning of both the actors.
  • Shooter (2016). On July 6, 2016, while filming a scene at Agua Dulce Airpark, actor Tom Sizemore accidentally ran over a stuntman. Sizemore was supposed to enter the Cadillac Escalade and stay there until the scene ended, but the stunt coordinator told him to pull out, not realizing that the stuntman was behind him.
  • Silence (2016). On 30 January 2015, a brick and wood house on the film's set in Taiwan suddenly collapsed on three construction workers who had been reinforcing the structure. One of the workers, Chen Yu-lung, was pronounced dead in the hospital whilst the other two sustained head and leg injuries.
  • Skiptrace (2016). On December 17, 2014, cinematographer Chan Kwok-Hung drowned when a motorized sampan he was on capsized during filming in Sunny Bay off Lantau Island in Hong Kong.
  • American Made (2017). Stunt pilot Alan D. Purwin and Venezuelan co-pilot Carlos Berl were killed when their aircraft crashed during filming in Medellin, Colombia. A third person on board the aircraft survived.
  • Blade Runner 2049 (2017). On August 25, 2016, a construction worker was killed while dismantling one of the film's sets at Origo Studios in Budapest, Hungary.
  • A Dog's Purpose (2017). In 2017, a video was released that took place during filming in 2015, where a German Shepherd named Hercules was submerged under a rushing current while the crew rushed towards him. This was also the subject of controversy as the video shown by TMZ also features a man holding Hercules by the collar and leading him into the water, this leading to accusations of manhandling. According to the director Lasse Hallström, Hercules is "happy and healthy".
  • The Fate of the Furious (2017). During principal photography in Mývatn, Iceland, on March 14, 2016, strong winds sent a plastic iceberg prop flying into a paddock and striking two horses. One was wounded and the other mortally injured; it was later euthanized.
  • Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017). Stunt double Olivia Jackson was severely injured in a motorcycle accident on set in South Africa in September 2015, leaving her in a medically-induced coma for two weeks. During a high-speed motorcycle chase, she collided with a camera arm. Among Jackson's injuries were cerebral trauma, a crushed and degloved face, a severed artery in her neck, a paralyzed arm, several broken ribs, a shattered scapula, a broken clavicle, torn fingers with a thumb that needed to be amputated, and five nerves torn out of her spinal cord. Her paralyzed left arm was amputated in June 2016. Days after Jackson's accident, crew member Ricardo Cornelius was crushed to death by a Hummer H1 that slid off a platform he was operating.
  • Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018). On 17 March 2016, actor Dylan O'Brien suffered multiple injuries on set after being run over by a car in a scene gone wrong and was taken to hospital in Vancouver. Production was stopped after the accident.

    • References

    List of film and television accidents Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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