The following is a list of works that were published, performed or distributed posthumously (after the actors/actresses involved in its creation died).
Bertolt Brecht — Saint Joan of the Stockyards, Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer, The Horatians and the Curiatians, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The Visions of Simone Machard, Schweik in the Second World War, The Days of the Commune, Coriolanus, Turandot
Georg Büchner — Woyzeck
Anthony Coburn — The Masters of Luxor
Nora Ephron — Lucky Guy
Euripides — Bacchae, Iphigeneia at Aulis
George Farquhar — The Beaux' Stratagem
Federico García Lorca — The Billy-Club Puppets, The Public, When Five Years Pass, Play Without a Title, The House of Bernarda Alba
John Gay — Hercules, The Distress'd Wife
Jean Genet — Her, Splendid's
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — Faust Part Two
Carrie Hamilton — Hollywood Arms (with Carol Burnett)
Lorraine Hansberry — To Be Young, Gifted and Black, Les Blancs (both edited by Robert Nemiroff)
Robert Holmes — The Mysterious Planet, The Ultimate Foe
Sidney Howard — Lute Song (with Will Irwin), Madam, Will You Walk?
Alfred Jarry — Ubu Cocu, Ubu Enchaíné
Ben Jonson — Mortimer His Fall
Sarah Kane — 4.48 Psychosis
Heinrich von Kleist — Die Hermannsschlacht, The Prince of Homburg
Jonathan Larson — Rent
Jack London — The Acorn Planter: A California Forest Play
Christopher Marlowe — The Jew of Malta, Edward II, The Massacre at Paris, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Eugene O'Neill — Hughie, Long Day's Journey Into Night, A Touch of the Poet, More Stately Mansions, The Calms of Capricorn
Joe Orton — Funeral Games, What the Butler Saw, Up Against It
Sophocles — Oedipus at Colonus
John Tobin — The Honey Moon, The Curfew, The School for Authors, The Faro Table; or, The Guardians
All of Louis Le Prince's surviving films, following his mysterious disappearance in 1890.
The Song of Songs (1918), released just seventeen days after Joseph Kaufman's death in the 1918 flu pandemic.
Such Men Are Dangerous (1930), released just over two months after Kenneth Hawks's death in a two-plane crash over the Pacific Ocean, while directing re-takes of aerial scenes for the film; Hawks, the younger brother of fellow director Howard Hawks, was killed along with pilot Walter Ross Cook, cameraman George Eastman, assistant director Ben Frankel, assistant director Max Gold, Tom Harris, Harry Johannes, Otho Jordan, pilot Halleck Rouse, and cinematographer Conrad Wells (also known as Abraham Fried). The finished film left Hawks uncredited.
Tabu (1931), released a week after F.W. Murnau's death in a car accident.
The Viking (1931), given its public release over three months after co-director Varick Frissell's death in an explosion, along with 26 other crew members, on board the SS Viking; the film, shot on location in Newfoundland by George Melford and Frissell in the winter of 1930-31, had been nominally completed and privately screened when Frissell decided it needed more sensational and realistic footage from the Labrador ice floes. Within days, Frissell and his crew re-joined the SS Viking (already used in the film) in order to shoot more footage; however, the ship quickly became trapped in ice about eight miles (13 km) off the Horse Islands. On March 15, 1931, a cache of dynamite loaded on the vessel, being used for Frissell's film to add to the sensationalism of giant explosions of icebergs, spontaneously blew up, destroying the back of the ship, blowing the stern off the vessel, and causing the Viking to catch fire and sink, killing 27 members of the crew who were filming an iceberg, including Frissell and cinematographer Alexander Gustavus Penrod. The film as Frissell had left it was prepared for its posthumous release by associate producer Roy W. Gates. A French-language version of the film, Ceux du "Viking", shot simultaneously with the English-language version by French director René Ginet and also featuring Frissell's nature footage, was released in February 1932, 11 months after Frissell's death.
Ambush (1950), released four months after Sam Wood's death from a heart attack.
The Lovers of Montparnasse (1958), released over a year after Max Ophüls's death from rheumatic heart disease, while shooting interiors on the film. Because he died in the middle of production, Ophüls's friend Jacques Becker took over after the director's death and finished the picture; it was dedicated to Ophüls's memory.
The Fly (1958), released just over a week after Kurt Neumann's death; Machete (1958), Watusi (1959), and Counterplot (1959) were also released posthumously.
The Hole (1960), released less than a month after Jacques Becker's sudden death; Becker, who had shot the film over a period of ten weeks, himself died of an undisclosed illness just two weeks after filming had wrapped. The picture was edited and assembled by Marguerite Renoir and Geneviève Vaury based on notes the director had written before his death; the completed film was nominated for a Palme d'Or at the 13th Cannes Film Festival.
The Honkers (1972), released five days after Steve Ihnat's death from a heart attack, while attending the 25th Cannes Film Festival.
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1976), released twenty days after Pier Paolo Pasolini's murder; the killer ran over him several times with Pasolini's own car while at the Ostia beach, near Rome.
The Greatest (1977), released four months after co-director Tom Gries's death.
The Lovers' Wind (1978), released nearly eight years after Albert Lamorisse's death in 1970 during shooting on the film, in a helicopter crash over a tour of Iran; his widow and son eventually completed the film, based on his production notes. It was nominated for a posthumous Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Watership Down (1978), released over a year after John Hubley's death during heart surgery; the film was eventually finished by Martin Rosen, and Hubley went uncredited.
Avalanche Express (1979), released over a year after Mark Robson's death from a heart attack during filming; production was completed by his friend and fellow director, Monte Hellman, who went uncredited for his work.
Freedom Road (1979), released nearly five months after Ján Kadár's death.
Lightning Over Water (1980), released over a year after co-director Nicholas Ray's death from lung cancer.
Querelle (1982), released two months after Rainer Werner Fassbinder's death from heart failure, due to a lethal mixture of sleeping pills and cocaine.
The Dead (1987), released almost four months after John Huston's death from emphysema and complications from a heart attack.
Welcome Home (1989), released nearly three months after Franklin J. Schaffner's death from lung cancer.
The Nutcracker (1993) and Gypsy (1993), released four days and less than a month, respectively, after Emile Ardolino's death due to complications from AIDS.
Blue Sky (1994), released nearly three years after Tony Richardson's death from complications from AIDS.
Be a Wicked Woman (1990), shelved by director Kim Ki-young and screened publicly in 1998, following his death that same year in a house fire.
The Argument (1998) and Wild Side (1999), both released over two years after Donald Cammell's suicide, following a disastrous recut of Wild Side by the film's producer.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999), released over four months after filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's death from a heart attack.
A Decade Under the Influence (2003), released a year after Ted Demme's death from a heart attack.
Quiet Flows the Don (2006), released over twelve years after Sergei Bondarchuk's death from a heart attack; disputes after filming had wrapped in 1994, over unfavorable clauses in Bondarchuk's contract with the Italian studio co-producing the film, left the tapes locked in a bank vault until some time after the director's death. Bondarchuk's son, Fyodor Bondarchuk, assembled and edited the film for its final release on Russian television in 2006.
Everyone's Hero (2006), released two years after co-director Christopher Reeve's death.
California Dreamin' (2007), released nearly nine months after Cristian Nemescu's death in a taxi accident; the crash also killed the film's sound designer, Andrei Toncu.
Waitress (2007), released just over six months after Adrienne Shelly's murder at the hands of Diego Pillco; the Ecuadorian immigrant was caught stealing money from Shelly and decided to strangle her to death with a bedsheet, then frame it as a suicide by hanging.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008), television film pilot, aired five days after Anthony Minghella's death from a cancer-related hemorrhage.
Dhaam Dhoom (2008), a Tamil (Indian language) film co-written and partly directed by Jeeva shortly before his death from acute cardiac arrest; the film was completed by Jeeva's widow, Anees Murugaraj, and his longtime assistant, V. Manikandan, and was overseen by veteran cinematographer P. C. Sriram.
Buy a Suit (2008), released just over a month after Jun Ichikawa's death from a cerebral hemorrhage, following his collapse at a restaurant.
Casino Jack (2010), released just over a month after George Hickenlooper's death from an accidental overdose of oxymorphone and alcohol.
Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012), released just over a month after Yash Chopra's death from dengue fever and multiple organ failure.
Hard to Be a God (2013), released nearly nine months after Aleksei Yuryevich German's sudden death; the film itself had been shot from 2000 to 2006, and was in the midst of intensive sound editing upon German's death.
The Uncondemned (2015), released just over two weeks after co-director Nick Louvel's death in a traffic collision.
Traffic (2016), released just over a month after Rajesh Pillai's death from non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis.
The Aquatic Effect (2016), released nearly ten months after Sólveig Anspach's death from cancer.
Odd Job (2016), released almost a year after Pascal Chaumeil's death from cancer.
A Perfect Gentleman (1928), released just four days after Charles T. Horan's death from a heart attack.
King Kong (1933), a year after Edgar Wallace's death due to complications from diabetes.
Gone with the Wind (1939), nearly four months after Sidney Howard's death in a tractor accident; he had turned the ignition switch on and was cranking the engine to start it when it lurched forward, pinning him against the wall of his garage and crushing him to death. Posthumously, he won the 1939 Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for Gone with the Wind, the first time a posthumous nominee for any Oscar won the award.
The Night of the Hunter (1955), four months after James Agee's death from a heart attack.
Arabian Adventure (1979), released almost nine months after Brian Hayles's death at the age of 48.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980), over two years after Leigh Brackett's death from cancer.
The Glass Menagerie (1987), released four years after Tennessee Williams' death.
Mr. North (1988), released a year after John Huston's death.
Kansas (1988), War Party (1988) and Night Game (1989), all released following Spencer Eastman's death from lung cancer.
Always (1989), released over four years after Diane Thomas's death in a car accident; Jerry Belson completed the script after her death.
She's So Lovely (1997), released eight years after the death of John Cassavetes who wrote the script in 1987.
I Woke Up Early The Day I Died (1999), released twenty years after Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s death from a heart attack.
After the Rain (1999), exactly a year after Akira Kurosawa's death from a stroke.
One Night at McCool's (2001), released over nine months after Stan Seidel's death from Crohn's disease.
Heaven (2002), Hell (2005), and Purgatory (2007), all following the death of Krzysztof Kieślowski in 1996.
The Singing Detective (2003), released nine years after Dennis Potter's death.
The Lost City (2005), released seven months after Guillermo Cabrera Infante's death from septicemia.
Cars (2006) and Mater and the Ghostlight (2006), both released a year after Joe Ranft's death in a car accident.
The Contract (2006), released a year after Stephen Katz's death from prostate cancer.
Serious Moonlight (2009), over three years after Adrienne Shelly's murder.
Nine (2009), over a year after co-writer Anthony Minghella's death from a cancer-related hemorrhage. In addition, Minghella also wrote a segment in New York, I Love You (2008).
Main Street (2010), released a year after Horton Foote's death.
Justice League: Doom (2012), released a year after Dwayne McDuffie's death due to complications during heart surgery.
Thor: The Dark World (2013), released seven months after writer Don Payne's death from bone cancer.
Rio 2 (2014), released over a year after Don Rhymer's death from head and neck cancer in 2012.
The BFG (2016), released seven months after Melissa Mathison's death from neuroendocrine cancer.
Fences (2016), released eleven years after August Wilson's death; Tony Kushner built upon a draft of Wilson's for the final screenplay.
Cars 3 (2017), to be released a year after Dan Gerson's death from brain cancer.
Zudora (1914-1915), a 20-part serial whose first installment was released just over three months after producer Charles J. Hite's death in an automobile accident; Hite was on the way to his home in New Rochelle, New York, and was crossing the viaduct at 155th Street in Manhattan when his vehicle skidded off the roadway and onto the sidewalk, tore through an iron railing and plunged fifty feet before landing atop a wooden fence, with Hite underneath it, having suffered a fractured skull, a compound fracture to his jaw, and three broken ribs. After it took fifteen minutes to pull him from beneath it, Hite was taken to hospital, where he died that same night. Both the serial's production and the film studio Hite owned, Thanhouser, went into a long, slow decline following his death.
The Viking (1931), given its public release over three months after producer Varick Frissell's death in an explosion, along with 26 other crew members, on board the SS Viking; the film, shot on location in Newfoundland by co-directors George Melford and Frissell (Melford filming actors, Frissell filming nature) in the winter of 1930-31, had been nominally complete when Frissell screened it privately at the Nickel Theatre at St. John's on March 5, 1931, but the producer came away feeling it needed more sensational and realistic footage from the Labrador ice floes. Within days, Frissell and his crew re-joined the SS Viking (already used in the film) for its annual seal hunt to shoot more footage; however, the ship quickly became trapped in ice about eight miles (13 km) off the Horse Islands. On March 15, 1931, while trying to film an iceberg, Frissell, cinematographer Alexander Gustavus Penrod, and 25 other film crew members were killed when a cache of dynamite loaded on the vessel, being used for Frissell's film to add to the sensationalism of giant explosions of icebergs, spontaneously blew up, destroying the back of the ship, blowing the stern off the vessel, and causing the Viking to catch fire and sink. The film that had been screened at the Nickel Theatre was subsequently polished and prepared for release by associate producer Roy W. Gates, who directed a prologue featuring Newfoundland explorer Sir Wilfred Grenfell, who had known and worked with Frissell, lionizing the producer and the men who had died with him. A French-language version of the film, Ceux du "Viking", shot simultaneously with Melford's English-language version by French director René Ginet and also produced by Frissell and featuring his nature footage, was released in February 1932, 11 months after Frissell's death.
The Naked City (1948), released over two months after producer and narrator Mark Hellinger's death from a sudden heart attack; after Hellinger's death, executives at Universal Studios were ready to scrap the film, as they had no idea how to market it, and feared it would be a box office failure. Hellinger's widow, however, reminded the studio that Hellinger's contract for the film included a "guarantee of release" clause from Universal; having no choice, Universal released the film into theaters, and were subsequently surprised when it became a hit, garnering two Oscars for the studio.
Apache Drums (1951), released less than a month after producer Val Lewton's death from two massive heart attacks, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and The Jungle Book (1967), both released a year after Walt Disney's death from lung cancer.
Mr. North (1988), released a year after John Huston's death.
The Witches (1990), released in the UK nine days after Jim Henson's death.
The City of Lost Souls (2000), Spirited Away (2001) and Koro's Big Walk (2002), all released in Japan after the death of chief executive producer Yasuyoshi Tokuma.
The Fog (2005) and World Trade Center (2006), both released after the death of producer Debra Hill.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), Phat Girlz (2006) and Breach (2007), all released after the death of Robert Newmyer.
Stone of Destiny (2008), Edison and Leo (2008), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) and Push (2009) all released after the death of William Vince from cancer. Vince served as executive producer of the former two films and producer of the latter two.
The Reader (2008) and Margaret (2011), released after Anthony Minghella's death from a cancer-related hemorrhage and Sydney Pollack's death from cancer. In addition, Minghella also produced the short film, Love You More (2008).
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Butler (2013), released after Laura Ziskin's death from breast cancer.
Stoker (2013), released after Tony Scott's suicide.
The Girl in the Photographs (2015) released a month after the death of Wes Craven, caused by brain caner.
Creed (2015), released months after Robert Chartoff's death from pancreatic cancer.
The Legend of Tarzan (2016), to be released after Jerry Weintraub's death.
Bambi (1942), released three months after Frank Churchill's suicide.
Airport (1970), released less than a month after Alfred Newman's death from complications of emphysema.
Taxi Driver (1976) and Obsession (1976), both released after Bernard Herrmann's death in December 1975.
Funeral Home (1980), released eight months after Jerry Fielding's death from a heart attack.
Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992), both following lyricist Howard Ashman's death due to complications from AIDS.
Man Trouble (1992) and Rich in Love (1993), both following Georges Delerue's death from a heart attack.
Larger than Life (1996) and 'Til There Was You (1997), both following Miles Goodman's death from a heart attack.
Against the Ropes (2004) and First Daughter (2004) both released a year after Michael Kamen's death.
Vadakkumnathan (2006) and Kalabham (2006) both released a year after Raveendran's death.
The 33 (2015), and The Magnificent Seven (2016) both released after the death of composer James Horner in a plane crash; a third film, Southpaw (2015), went into wide release just over a month after Horner's death.
In several cases, actors or actresses have died prior to the release of a film: either during filming or after it has been completed, but is yet to be released. In the case that the actor dies during filming, their scenes are often completed by stunt doubles, or through special effects. Only people who actually appear in some capacity in a posthumously released film are listed here. Those who were scheduled to start a project, but died before filming began, are not included.
A Dash Through the Clouds (1912), released just twenty-three days after aviator and actor Philip Orin Parmelee's death in a plane crash; he was piloting an airplane at an air show in Yakima, Washington, on June 1, 1912, at altitudes variously described from 400 to 2,000 feet, when air turbulence flipped over his airplane and caused it to crash, killing him instantly.
A Woman's Way (1913), In the Haunts of Fear (1913), and The Blight (1913), all released after Joseph Graybill's death at the age of 26—strangely, different records state conflicting information as to the cause of Graybill's death; the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) lists it as acute spinal meningitis, and the first death notice in the New York Times contradicts the death certificate as to the day of death—it lists the cause of death on August 2, not the 3, as a nervous breakdown —but an obituary on August 4 lists the cause as gastritis. Contradicting all of these, a 1913 Motion Picture Story magazine article states that he had a "nervous disorder of the optic nerve and died". Finally, Graybill's death certificate states that the cause of death was acute pachymeningitis and a contributory factor was alcohol poisoning; both the certificate and the first death notice note he entered Bellevue Hospital on July 24.
Across the Border (1914), released over a month after Grace McHugh's death during filming; while on location on the Arkansas River in Colorado, re-shooting a scene of McHugh fording the river on horseback, her horse lost its footing, and the actress was thrown into the swift current. Cinematographer Owen Carter stopped filming and plunged into the river to save her; together they succeeded in reaching a sandbar, which unfortunately proved to be quicksand, and they both drowned. Shooting of the picture was otherwise complete, and the film was released with the majority of Grace McHugh's work intact.
The Great Romance (1919), Shadows of Suspicion (1919), and A Man of Honor (1919), all released after Harold Lockwood's death in the 1918 flu pandemic; because he died before filming on Shadows of Suspicion was completed, changes were made to the script, and the film was completed using a double shot from behind to stand in for Lockwood.
The Lone Star Ranger (1919), Wolves of the Night (1919), The Last of the Duanes (1919), and The Spite Bride (1919), all released after Lamar Johnstone's sudden death at age 34 from heart disease.
Paid in Advance (1919), released six days after William Stowell's death in a train accident, while scouting locations for Universal in the Belgian Congo.
The Skywayman (1920), released just over a month after daredevil stunt flier and actor Ormer Locklear's death on the last day of filming; while shooting the finale by night, Locklear had to dive the plane, carrying himself and co-pilot Milton 'Skeets' Elliott, towards some oil derricks and appear to crash it. He forewarned the lighting crew to douse their lights when he got near the derricks, so that he could see to pull out of the dive; the lights remained full on, blinding him, and he crashed. The finished film showed this crash, and its aftermath, in gruesome detail.
Everybody's Sweetheart (1920), released less than a month after Olive Thomas's death, at the age of 25; on the night of September 5, 1920, Thomas and her husband, Jack Pickford, went out for a night of entertainment and partying at the famous bistros in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris. Returning to their room in the Hotel Ritz around 3:00 a.m., Pickford either fell asleep or was outside the room for a final round of drugs. An intoxicated and tired Thomas accidentally ingested a large dose of a mercury bichloride liquid solution, which had been prescribed for her husband's chronic syphilis. Being liquid it was supposed to be applied topically, not ingested. She had either thought the flask contained drinking water or sleeping pills; accounts vary. The label was in French, which may have added to the confusion. She screamed, "Oh, my God!", and Pickford ran to pick her up in his arms; however, it was too late, as she had already ingested a lethal dose. She was taken to the American Hospital in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, where she succumbed to the poison a few days later.
Coincidence (1921), released a year after Robert Harron's suicide; he fatally shot himself in the left lung with a revolver due to disappointment that director and mentor D.W. Griffith had passed him over for the starring role in Way Down East.
Foolish Wives (1922), released almost a year after Rudolph Christians's death from pneumonia; the German actor, father of Austrian stage and screen actress Mady Christians, was playing the central part of the cuckolded American envoy in Erich von Stroheim's film. As Christians died in the middle of production, von Stroheim was forced to bring in actor Robert Edeson (back to camera) to finish Christians's scenes.
Wildness of Youth (1922), released nearly two months after child star Bobby Connelly's death from bronchitis, brought on by a years-long battle with endocarditis and worsened by a heavy work schedule; Connelly was 13 years old.
The Warrens of Virginia (1924), almost a year after actress Martha Mansfield's death at the age of 24; on November 30, 1923, while working on the film on location in San Antonio, Texas, 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. She was rushed to a Physicians and Surgeons Hospital in San Antonio, where she died in less than twenty-four hours; however, most of Mansfield's scenes had already been shot, so production on the film continued.
Greed (1924), released nearly a year after Frank Hayes's death from pneumonia.
Son of the Sheik (1926), was publicly released a month following Rudolph Valentino's death from peritonitis, although the premiere was a month prior to Valentino's death.
King of the Pack (1926), released nearly four months after canine actor Peter the Great's death while protecting his master; an argument had broken out between owner Edward Faust and a friend of Faust's, culminating with Faust running back to his car while the friend came out of his house with a rifle—in the process, Peter leapt up to protect his master, and was shot in the neck, lingering for three more days before dying.
Two Masters (1928), released nearly a month after Rex Cherryman's death from septic poisoning, which he contracted while sailing to France to read for a play in Paris; he died in Le Havre, France at age 31.
The Rush Hour (1928), released almost five months after Ward Crane's death from pneumonia, following an attack of pleurisy that sent him to a rest cure lodge at Saranac Lake, New York.
The Wedding March (1928), released a year after the deaths of both George Nichols and Hughie Mack.
Show Boat (1929), released over three months after Ralph Yearsley's suicide.
The Hottentot (1929), The Argyle Case (1929), and The Drake Case (1929), all released after Gladys Brockwell's death in an automobile accident; the car, driven by her friend Thomas Brennan, went over an 75-foot (23 m) embankment on the Ventura Highway near Calabasas, and Brockwell, the passenger, ended up crushed beneath it. Brennan later said that a bit of dust had blown into his eye before the accident, temporarily blinding him. Seriously injured, Brockwell died a few days later in a Hollywood hospital from peritonitis; Brennan eventually recovered from his own injuries.
The Sea Wolf (1930), released six days after Milton Sills's death from a heart attack, while playing tennis with his wife at his Santa Barbara, California home.
The Miracle Man (1932), less than five months after Tyrone Power, Sr.'s death. Power was in the midst of filming the title role in a remake of the 1919 film, but collapsed and died of a heart attack in the arms of his son, Tyrone Power, Jr., while on the set; Power's part was taken up by Hobart Bosworth, but his work was not refilmed.
Thirteen Women (1932), released the night of Peg Entwistle's suicide by jumping off the Hollywood Sign.
I Cover the Waterfront (1933), released just six days after Ernest Torrence's death following gall bladder surgery; while en route to Europe by ship, Torrence suffered an acute attack of gall stones, but after being rushed back to a New York hospital, he died of complications following surgery.
Shoot the Works (1934), released just over a month after Lew Cody's death from heart disease and Dorothy Dell's death in a car accident.
Wake Up and Dream (1934), released just over a month after Russ Columbo's death in a shooting accident; the singer was shot under peculiar circumstances by his longtime friend, photographer Lansing Brown, while Columbo was visiting him at home. Brown had a collection of firearms and the two men were examining various pieces. Quoting Brown's description of the accident, "I was absent-mindedly fooling around with one of the guns. [...] I had a match in my hand and when I clicked, apparently the match caught in between the hammer and the firing pin. There was an explosion. Russ slid to the side of his chair." The ball ricocheted off a nearby table and hit Columbo above the left eye. Surgeons at Good Samaritan Hospital made an unsuccessful attempt to remove the ball from Columbo's brain; he died less than six hours after the shooting. Columbo's death was ruled an accident, and Brown exonerated from blame.
Jew Suss (1934), released six months after Gerald du Maurier's death from colon cancer.
Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) and In Old Kentucky (1935), both released months after Will Rogers's death in an airplane crash; while being flown through Alaska by famed aviator Wiley Post, they became uncertain of their position in bad weather and landed in a lagoon to ask directions. On takeoff, the engine failed at low altitude, and the aircraft, uncontrollably nose-heavy at low speed, plunged into the lagoon, shearing off the right wing and ending inverted in the shallow water of the lagoon; both men died instantly.
Frankie and Johnnie (1936), released over two years after Lilyan Tashman's death from abdominal cancer.
Counterfeit (1936) and Poppy (1936), both released just two months after character actor Tammany Young's death from a heart attack.
The Devil-Doll (1936), released almost a month after Henry B. Walthall's death from influenza and a nervous condition.
Saratoga (1937), following Jean Harlow's death, with 90% of filming completed; a body double and two voice doubles completed the filming in Harlow's role.
Rikas tyttö (1939), released less than two months after Finnish actress Sirkka Sari's death; Sari played the lead role in the film. At a party with the rest of the cast and crew, while shooting at the Aulanko Hotel, Sari and one of the men there (she was engaged, but the man was not her fiancee) went up to the roof of the hotel; on the flat roof, there was a several-feet high chimney, with a ladder leading up to the top. Sari mistook this chimney for a scenery balcony, climbed up, and fell into a heating boiler, where she died instantly. Because of Sari's death, the end of the film needed to be changed a bit; the crew shot further away, and so another woman had to replace Sari on these final shots. It was only Sari's third film; she was 19 years old.
The Masked Marvel (1943), released two months after David Bacon's mysterious death; he was seen driving a car erratically in Santa Monica, California before running off the road and into the curb. Several witnesses saw him climb out of the car and stagger briefly before collapsing. As they approached, he asked them to help him, but he died before he could say anything more. A small knife wound was found in his back – the blade had punctured his lung and caused his death. When he died, Bacon was wearing only a swimsuit, and a wallet and camera were found in his car. The film from the camera was developed and found to contain only one image, that of Bacon, nude and smiling on a beach.
Captain America (1944), whose later segments arrived at theatres following Dick Purcell's death from a heart attack, just a few weeks after shooting had wrapped.
Hangover Square (1945), two months after Laird Cregar's death, due to complications from stomach surgery following a crash diet that included prescribed amphetamines.
Having A Wonderful Crime (1945), released nine months after Mildred Harris's death from pneumonia.
House of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946), both released after Rondo Hatton's death from a heart attack, due to his acromegaly.
Lost City of the Jungle (1946), following Lionel Atwill's death, from pneumonia caused by poor health due to lung cancer, while filming this serial; Atwill was playing the mastermind villain, Sir Eric Hazarias, a chief foreign spy. Universal could not afford to throw out the footage already filmed, so they were forced to adapt the serial: Firstly, another villain (Malborn, played by John Mylong, who was originally just a servant of Sir Eric) was introduced as the boss of Atwill's character to take over most of the villain requirements of the film; secondly, a double of Atwill was used to complete his remaining scenes. The double was filmed from behind and remained silent. The villain's henchmen were filmed repeating their orders back to the silent double and stock footage of Atwill was edited in to show a response.
The Naked City (1948), released over two months after producer and narrator Mark Hellinger's death from a sudden heart attack; after Hellinger's death, executives at Universal Studios were ready to scrap the film, as they had no idea how to market it, and feared it would be a box office failure. Hellinger's widow, however, reminded the studio that Hellinger's contract for the film included a "guarantee of release" clause from Universal; having no choice, Universal released the film into theaters, and were subsequently surprised when it became a hit, garnering two Oscars for the studio.
Noose (1948) and Brass Monkey (1948), both released after Carole Landis's suicide; Landis was reportedly crushed when her lover, actor Rex Harrison, refused to divorce his wife, Lilli Palmer, for her. Unable to cope any longer, she committed suicide at her Pacific Palisades home by taking an overdose of Seconal. She had spent her final night alive with Harrison; the next afternoon, he and the maid discovered her on the bathroom floor. Harrison waited several hours before he called a doctor and the police. According to some sources, Landis left two suicide notes; one for her mother, and the second for Harrison, who instructed his lawyers to destroy it. During a coroner's inquest, Harrison denied knowing any motive for her suicide and told the coroner he did not know of the existence of a second suicide note.
Red River (1948) and So Dear to My Heart (1949), both released after Harry Carey's death from a combination of lung cancer, emphysema, and coronary thrombosis in 1947; both films had been delayed due to lengthy post-production problems, including the addition of several animated sequences to the latter, a Disney film.
The Furies (1950), released four months after Walter Huston's death from an aortic aneurysm.
Alice in Wonderland (1951), released over a year after Dink Trout's death and released two months after Larry Grey's death. Dink voiced the King of Hearts. Larry voiced Bill the Lizard and a card painter.
My Son John (1952), eight months after Robert Walker's death, from an allergic reaction to sodium amytal given to him by his psychiatrist. Because Walker died in the middle of production, parts of the film were heavily rewritten; several scenes use a double shot from behind, and others recycle footage of Walker from Strangers on a Train. The final scene, where a recording of John delivers an anti-Communist speech, is lit with a halo around the tape-recorder.
Judgement of God (1952), released five months after French actor Pierre Renoir's death, due to complications from a kidney operation.
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956), both following actor James Dean's death in an automobile accident in September 1955, just days after filming on the latter was completed; due to his trademark mumbling rendering him inaudible on his final scene of the film, his speech in that scene was overdubbed by friend Nick Adams after his death. Dean received a posthumous Best Actor Oscar nomination for his work on Giant.
The Vagabond King (1956), released a year after Walter Hampden's death from a stroke.
Around the World in 80 Days (1956), released almost seven months after Robert Newton's death from a heart attack, brought on by chronic alcoholism.
Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957) and Jailhouse Rock (1957), both released after Judy Tyler's sudden death in a car accident, alongside her husband.
The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959) and The World of Abbott and Costello (1965), both released after Lou Costello's death.
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), following Bela Lugosi's death. He died having filmed two minutes of footage. This footage, not shot for Plan 9, but for two separate, unfinished Ed Wood projects, was combined and then inter-cut with new footage featuring a double, Tom Mason, who looked nothing like Lugosi, in order to put a credit for Lugosi on the picture.
La Fièvre Monte à El Pao (1959), released ten days after French actor Gérard Philipe's death from liver cancer, at age 36.
Solomon and Sheba (1959), following Tyrone Power's death of a sudden heart attack; having completed 75% of the required shooting, Power's death forced the production to recast the role with Yul Brynner and reshoot most of Power's scenes. Footage of Power, however, was retained for long shots, such as in the sword fighting sequence toward the end of the film, and reels featuring the rest of Power's performance are rumored to be kept locked away in vaults to this day.
The Misfits (1961), released on what would have been actor Clark Gable's 60th birthday; he had died three months earlier of a heart attack, brought on in part, according to later reports, by the stress of difficulties working with co-star Marilyn Monroe.
Advise & Consent (1962), where, appearing in two scenes as Senator McCafferty, who whenever awakened from a deep sleep automatically responds "Opposed, sir! Opposed!", was 87-year-old Henry F. Ashurst, one of the first senators elected by the state of Arizona and served five terms. Ashurst died on May 31, 1962, a week before the film's premiere.
From Russia with Love (1963). released nearly four months after Pedro Armendáriz's suicide, following a long development of cancer that turned terminal during filming.
The Thrill of It All (1963) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), both following Zasu Pitts's death from cancer.
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), released nearly five months after Larry Keating's death from leukemia.
A Tiger Walks (1964), released just over three months after Sabu Dastagir's sudden death from a heart attack; he was only 39.
The Carpetbaggers (1964), released about ten weeks after Alan Ladd's death.
Muscle Beach Party (1964) and The Patsy (1964), both released after Peter Lorre's death from a stroke.
The Pumpkin Eater (1964), released three months after Cedric Hardwicke's death from emphysema.
Cat Ballou (1965), released four months after Nat King Cole's death from lung cancer.
Fluffy (1965), released eight months after Sammee Tong's death.
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1965), released in West Germany two months after John Kitzmiller's death.
The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), released three months after Alice Pearce's death from ovarian cancer.
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966) and Incubus (1966), both released after Milos Milos's suicide in January 1966; the latter film was released just twelve days after Milos's co-star, Ann Atmar, also committed suicide.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), following Buster Keaton's death from lung cancer.
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966), released a month after John Reynolds's suicide; it was the only film appearance of Reynolds, who played the infamous character Torgo in the film.
The Defector (1966), released in the USA nearly four months after Montgomery Clift's death from a heart attack.
Casino Royale (1967), released less than a month after Duncan Macrae's death.
The Gnome-Mobile (1967), released over a year after Ed Wynn's death from throat cancer.
The Tiger Makes Out (1967), released about six months after Roland Wood's death.
The Jungle Book (1967), released over ten months after Verna Felton's death from a stroke; Felton had voiced Colonel Hathi's wife, Winifred the elephant, in the film. (Note: The film's producer, Walt Disney, died the day after Felton.)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), released six months after Spencer Tracy's death from a heart attack and emphysema. Tracy died only seventeen days after filming wrapped, and was in failing health during the shoot — the filming schedule was altered to accommodate him. All of Tracy's scenes were filmed between 9:00 AM and noon of each day in order to give him adequate time to rest. For example, most of Tracy's dialogue scenes were filmed in a such a way that during close-ups on other characters, a stand-in was substituted for him. Tracy posthumously received his ninth Oscar nomination for his work on the film.
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967), both released after Françoise Dorléac's death at the age of 25; the older sister of French actress Catherine Deneuve died when she lost control of the rented Renault 10 she was driving and hit a sign post ten kilometers from Nice at the end of the Esterel-Côte d'Azur motorway. The car flipped over, and burst into flames. Dorléac had been en route to Nice airport and was afraid of missing her flight. She was seen struggling to get out of the car, but was unable to open the door; police later identified her body only from the fragment of a cheque book, a diary, and her driving license.
Never a Dull Moment (1968), released a year after Philip Coolidge's death.
The Bamboo Saucer (1968), released four months after Dan Duryea's death from cancer.
Skidoo (1968), released about four months following Phil Arnold's death from a heart attack; another cast member, Fred Clark, died only two weeks prior to the film's release.
The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), over a year after noted comic actor Bert Lahr's death from pneumonia and undiagnosed terminal cancer; while working on the film, Lahr agreed to shoot an extensive night scene outdoors in New York City on a cold December night, causing him to develop the pneumonia that killed him. Due to his death occurring in the middle of production, his role was posthumously made smaller, and what footage needed to be reshot for scenes where Lahr had completed his close-ups employed burlesque legend Joey Faye, shot from behind, to fill in for Lahr.
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), released seven months after Al Mulock's suicide; Mulock, a noted Canadian character actor, played the gunslinger Knuckles in the opening sequence. This sequence, the last filmed in Spain on the production, was scheduled for four days; Mulock committed suicide after the third day's shooting, for reasons that are still unclear, by jumping from his hotel room window, several floors up, in full costume. Production manager Claudio Mancini and screenwriter Mickey Knox, who were sitting in a room in the hotel, witnessed Mulock's body pass by their window. Knox recalled in an interview that while Mancini put Mulock, still in his costume, in his car to drive him to the hospital, director Sergio Leone said to Mancini, "Get the costume! We need the costume!" As Mulock had already shot most of his close-ups and a few medium and wide shots, only a double, of similar height and build, was needed to complete the sequence; looking similar enough to pass, screenwriter Knox was drafted into taking Mulock's place for those shots. Mulock's absence is obvious in the last few minutes of the sequence; while the other two gunslingers, played by Woody Strode and Jack Elam, get close-up reaction shots to Charles Bronson's character, Knuckles gets none before he is shot to death.
The Wild Bunch (1969), released over a year after Albert Dekker's death by autoerotic asphyxiation; Dekker had played Pat Harrigan, the unscrupulous railroad detective, in the film.
The Thirteen Chairs (1969), following Sharon Tate's death; it was her last film before her murder.
The Reivers (1969) and The Pursuit of Happiness (1971), both following Ruth White's death from cancer.
Patton (1970), released nearly three months after James Edwards's death from a heart attack.
Rabbit, Run (1970), released five months after Nydia Westman's death from cancer.
Cold Turkey (1971), released almost five months following Edward Everett Horton's death.
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), released three months following David Burns's death from a heart attack.
Isle of the Snake People (1971) and The Incredible Invasion (1971), both following Boris Karloff's death.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), both released posthumously two months following Roy Glenn's death from cardiovascular disease.
The Ruling Class (1972) and Gawain and the Green Knight (1973), the first released nearly four months, the second a year, after Nigel Green's death from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Soylent Green (1973), three months after Edward G. Robinson's death; Robinson had died twelve days after shooting on the film wrapped.
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), released about a month after Patrick McVey's death.
The Exorcist (1973), released following the deaths of Jack MacGowran and Vasiliki Maliaros. This was the latter's only film appearance.
Enter the Dragon (1973) and Game of Death (1978), both following Bruce Lee's death from cerebral edema, due to a severe allergic reaction to an Equagesic tablet; the latter was completed using several voice and body doubles throughout the film.
The Outfit (1973) and Executive Action (1973), both following Robert Ryan's death from lung cancer.
Herbie Rides Again (1974), released about a year after Alan Carney's death from a heart attack.
The Strongest Man in the World (1975) and The Rescuers (1977), both released after Joe Flynn's death in 1974.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), released three months after Irish actress Bee Duffell's death; Duffell played the Old Crone whom King Arthur and Sir Bedevere shout "Ni!" at.
Mr. Billion (1977), released nearly seven months after William Redfield's death.
Scott Joplin (1977), released about a year after Godfrey Cambridge's death.
The Seniors (1978), released a year after Alan Reed's death.
Watership Down (1978), released a year after Zero Mostel's death from an aortic aneurysm, following a respiratory disorder due to a nutritionally unsound diet he took in the last four months of his life.
The Deer Hunter (1978), following John Cazale's death from bone cancer.
Force 10 from Navarone (1978) and Avalanche Express (1979), both following Robert Shaw's death from a heart attack, while on break from shooting Express; the role was completed with a double filmed from behind. Because Shaw was so ill during filming, his voice and delivery were subsequently very weak and shaky. After his death, his voice was dubbed by actor Robert Rietty, although impressionist Rich Little also dubbed three words near the end of the picture ("Harry, come on"), and six words in Shaw's own voice were deemed usable ("Too hot in that train" and "Harry").
The Muppet Movie (1979) released nine months after Edgar Bergen's death from kidney disease; he had died during the film’s production, after filming his scenes.
Brubaker (1980), released just under a year after Richard Ward's death from a heart ailment.
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), released less than a month after Peter Sellers's death from a heart attack. A second film, Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), which went into production a year after his death in 1980, used deleted footage from The Pink Panther Strikes Again and various flashbacks to other previous films in the series to construct a "performance" from him.
George and Mildred (1980), released after the death of one of its title characters, Yootha Joyce, who died of chronic alcoholism on August 24.
Heavy Metal (1981), released after Douglas Kenney's death in 1980. Douglas posthumously voiced a regolian.
They All Laughed (1981), released exactly a year after Dorothy Stratten's murder by her estranged husband and manager, Paul Snider; he committed suicide the same day.
Ghost Story (1981), released four months after Melvyn Douglas's death. The Hot Touch (1982), which also featured Douglas, was released over a year after his death.
Reds (1981), released following the deaths of the following "Witnesses": Roger Nash Baldwin; Andrew Dasburg; Will Durant; George Jessel; Isaac Don Levine; Arthur Mayer; and Henry Miller.
Barbarosa (1982), released seven months after George Voskovec's death from a heart attack.
My Body, My Child, released a year after Jack Albertson's death.
Kamikaze 1989 (1982), released just over a month after Rainer Werner Fassbinder's death from heart failure, due to a lethal mixture of sleeping pills and cocaine.
Blue Thunder (1983) and Tough Enough (1983), both following Warren Oates's death.
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), following Vic Morrow's death in a helicopter accident on the set, which also claimed the lives of two child co-stars.
Yellowbeard (1983) and Slapstick of Another Kind (1984; U.S. release), both following Marty Feldman's death in December 1982 from a sudden heart attack; his work on Yellowbeard had not yet been completed at the time of his death, and a stunt double, filmed later, was used to kill his character off and finish the role.
Brainstorm (1983), nearly two years after Natalie Wood's death from drowning, during a break from principal photography; a body double and obscuring camera techniques were used to complete Wood's scenes.
Sleepaway Camp (1983), following Mike Kellin's death from lung cancer.
Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), released twelve days after David Niven's death from motor neurone disease.
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) and Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984), both following Ralph Richardson's death.
1984 (1984), following Richard Burton's death.
The Chain (1984), released two months after Charlotte Long's death in a car accident.
The Assisi Underground (1984), A.D. (1985), The Shooting Party (1985), and Dr. Fischer of Geneva (1985), all released after James Mason's death from a heart attack at his home in Lausanne, Switzerland.
8 Diagram Pole Fighter (1984), released one year after its leading actor Alexander Fu Sheng died in a car accident whilst the film was in production. In the completed film, Fu Sheng's character abruptly disappears halfway and Gordon Liu's character becomes the lead for the remainder of the film.
The Prey (1984), released eight months after Jackie Coogan's death from cardiac arrest.
The Stuff (1985), released nearly four months after Alexander Scourby's death from a heart attack.
Maxie (1985) and The Trouble with Spies (1987), both released after Ruth Gordon's death from a stroke; the latter film was shot in 1984, but was not released until three years later.
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), released over four months after Lloyd Nolan's death from lung cancer.
9½ Weeks (1986) and Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986), both released after Julian Beck's death from stomach cancer the year before; in the case of the latter film, Beck's voice (due to his illness) proved so weak that many of his lines were later redubbed by voice actor Corey Burton, and his death during principal photography necessitated further rewrites with various demonic stand-ins taking his place.
Pretty in Pink (1986) and Animal Behavior (1989), both following Alexa Kenin's death in September 1985.
Club Paradise (1986), following Adolph Caesar's death from a heart attack.
The Transformers: The Movie (1986) and Someone to Love (1987), both released after Orson Welles's death in 1985.
Hunk (1987), The Chair (1988) and That's Adequate (1989), all following James Coco's death in February 1987.
Maid to Order (1987) and Rented Lips (1988), both released after Dick Shawn's death.
The Big Easy (1987) and She Must Be Seeing Things (1988), both released after Charles Ludlam's death.
Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), released nearly ten months after Herb Vigran's death from cancer.
The Running Man (1987), released two months after Erland Van Lidth De Jeude's death.
She's Having a Baby (1988), following Cathryn Damon's death from ovarian cancer.
White Mischief (1988; U.S. release), The Dawning (1988) and The Unholy (1988), all following Trevor Howard's death.
Poltergeist III (1988), following child actress Heather O'Rourke's death; due to test audience problems, the film's ending was reshot a month after her death, utilizing a body double from behind in shots of O'Rourke's character.
The Land Before Time (1988) and All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), both following child actress Judith Barsi's murder by her own father.
Scrooged (1988), Another Chance (1989), Meet the Hollowheads (1989), and Homer & Eddie (1989), all following Anne Ramsey's death.
Another Woman (1988) and The Naked Gun (1988), following John Houseman's death.
Out of the Dark (1989), released a year after Divine's death.
Three Fugitives (1989), released shortly after Kenneth McMillan's death.
The Return of the Musketeers (1989) and The Princess and the Goblin (1992), both released following Roy Kinnear’s death from a heart attack, due to an accident while filming Musketeers in September 1988 in which he fell off a horse and broke his pelvis; his role was completed by using a stand-in for two crucial scenes, filmed from behind, and dubbed-in lines from a voice artist.
Field of Dreams (1989), released four months after Anne Seymour's death.
UHF (1989), released nearly a year after Trinidad Silva's death in a car accident, involving a collision with a drunken driver in Whittier, California, during production; had Silva survived, the film would have explored and developed the character he played, Raul, a little better, such as the fact that he was a postal worker, and would have shown an additional scene involving the revenge of the poodle he had thrown out of a 2-story-high window during the taping of his character's show. Aside from various scenes being rewritten to exclude his character, the scene with the attacking poodles was actually filmed using another actor doubling for Silva, with stuffed poodles attached to his body and covering his face; however, the scene was not included in the film's final cut.
The Little Mermaid (1989), released four months after Ben Wright's death.
To Die For (1989), released a year after Duane Jones's death.
Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair (1990) and The End of Innocence (1990), both released a year after Rebecca Schaeffer's murder.
King of the Wind (1990), released just over seven months after Anthony Quayle's death from liver cancer.
Thieves of Fortune (1990), released about five months after Lee Van Cleef's death.
Jetsons: The Movie (1990), following George O'Hanlon and Mel Blanc's deaths in 1989; O'Hanlon and Blanc were, respectively, the voices of George Jetson and Mr. Spacely. Because they both died during production, Jeff Bergman had to fill in remaining lines for both characters.
Mo' Better Blues (1990), released five months after actor/comedian Robin Harris's death; the film was dedicated in his memory.
Muppet*Vision 3D (1991), released at Disney's Hollywood Studios in 1991 after the death of Jim Henson in 1990.
Article 99 (1992), following Julie Bovasso's death.
Voodoo Dawn (1991) and Timebomb (1991), both released a year after Raymond St. Jacques' death.
Bed & Breakfast (1992), released nearly a year after Colleen Dewhurst's death from cervical cancer.
The Thief and the Cobbler (1993), released after Vincent Price's death. Co-stars Anthony Quayle, Clinton Sundberg, Eddie Byrne, Ramsay Williams, Kenneth Williams and Felix Aylmer also died before the movie's release.
The Age of Innocence (1993), released four months after Alexis Smith's death from a brain tumor.
Gettysburg (1993), following Richard Jordan's death from brain cancer; Jordan portrayed Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis "Lo" Armistead in the film.
Silent Tongue (1994), released the year after River Phoenix's death; another, uncompleted film, Dark Blood, was released in 2012 with director George Sluizer's narration filling in for the missing scenes.
The Crow (1994), released one year after Brandon Lee's death from a firearms accident while filming on the set. A body double and CGI was used to complete the film. This was one of the first films to use CGI for completing an actor's scene after their death.
Corrina, Corrina (1994), following Don Ameche's death.
Wagons East! (1994) and Canadian Bacon (1995), both following John Candy's death. The latter had already been completed a year before Candy's death but had a delayed release. The former was still in production at the time of Candy's death and was completed using CGI and a stunt double. A third film, Hostage for a Day (1994), was released a month after his death.
Trading Mom (1994), released a year after the death of André the Giant.
Radioland Murders (1994), released over seven months after Anita Morris's death from ovarian cancer, which she had had for over 14 years.
Camilla (1994) and Nobody's Fool (1994), both released after Jessica Tandy's death.
Street Fighter (1994) and Down Came a Blackbird (1995), both following Raul Julia's death, due to complications from a stroke following surgery for stomach cancer.
The Quick and the Dead (1995), released just over a month after Woody Strode's death from lung cancer.
Bye Bye Love (1995), released about three weeks after Ed Flanders's suicide by gunshot.
A Goofy Movie (1995), following Pat Buttram's death.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), following Donald Pleasence's death.
Higher Learning (1995), following Dedrick D. Gobert's death.
Waterworld (1995) and Joe's Apartment (1996), following Rick Aviles's death.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), following Mary Wickes's death from cancer; because Wickes, who voiced Laverne the gargoyle, died before finishing the required voicework on the film, the producers hired Jane Withers to provide the remaining dialogue.
Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997) and Gang Related (1997), all released after Tupac Shakur's murder.
In addition, music videos for Tupac Shakur's hit singles, from the album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, Toss It Up and To Live & Die in L.A.. The videos featured Tupac himself and were released after his death.
The Evening Star (1996), released over eight months after Ben Johnson's death.
Space Jam (1996), released over a year after Paul Julian's death; Julian voiced the Road Runner in the film, filling in for Mel Blanc since he died in 1989 before production of the film, although he went uncredited.
Lost Highway (1997), released less than a month after Jack Nance's death.
Liar Liar (1997), released about five months after Jason Bernard's death from a heart attack.
The Notorious B.I.G. was featured in the music video for his hit single, from the album Life After Death, Hypnotize. The music video featured him, and was released after his murder.
Out to Sea (1997), released nearly six weeks after Edward Mulhare's death from lung cancer.
Fire Down Below (1997) and Boogie Nights (1997), released seven and eight months, respectively, after Robert Ridgely's death from cancer.
Mouse Hunt (1997), released almost six months after William Hickey's death.
Almost Heroes (1998) and Dirty Work (1998), both following Chris Farley's death; the former was completed with the help of a body double.
The Negotiator (1998) and Pleasantville (1998), both released after J. T. Walsh's death from a sudden heart attack.
Small Soldiers (1998), Kiki's Delivery Service (1998; U.S. release) and Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night (1998; direct-to-video), all following Phil Hartman's murder by his wife.
Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998), following Lloyd Bridges's death
Mob Queen (1998), released a year after Will Hare's death.
A Bug's Life (1998), released a month after Roddy McDowall's death from lung cancer.
Home Fries (1998), released five months after Theresa Merritt's death from skin cancer.
The Other Sister (1999), released a month following Harvey Miller's death.
Lost & Found (1999), released eight months following Phil Leeds's death from pneumonia.
Toy Story 2 (1999), Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000; direct-to-video), The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (2000; direct-to-video), Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001; direct-to-video) and Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002; direct-to-video), all following Mary Kay Bergman's suicide by shotgun in 1999.
Two Family House (2000), released a year after Richard B. Shull's death from a heart attack.
Gladiator (2000), following Oliver Reed's death; a body double, augmented by CGI, was used to complete Reed's scenes.
Train Ride (2000), released in 2000 but filmed in 1998, following Esther Rolle's death in 1998 from diabetes. Filming was completed before her death.
Daddy and Them (2001) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), both released after Jim Varney's death.
Queen of the Damned (2002), following Aaliyah's death in a plane crash.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), following Richard Harris's death.
Avenging Angelo (2002), following Anthony Quinn's death.
Anger Management (2003), following Lynne Thigpen's death; Thigpen made a cameo appearance in the film as Judge Brenda Daniels.
House of 1000 Corpses (2003), released in 2003 but filmed in 2000, following Dennis Fimple's death in 2002.
Holes (2003), released over six months after Scott Plank's death in a car accident.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003), following Gloria Foster's death.
Open Range (2003) and The Polar Express (2004), both released after Michael Jeter's death.
Bad Santa (2003) and Clifford's Really Big Movie (2004), both released after John Ritter's death from an aortic dissection.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), released fifteen years after Laurence Olivier's death.
The Incredibles (2004), released two months after Frank Thomas' death.
Be Cool (2005), released almost a year after Robert Pastorelli's death.
Bad Girls From Valley High (2005), released following Jonathan Brandis's suicide by hanging and Janet Leigh's death from a heart attack.
Keeping Mum (2005), following James Booth's death.
Lords of Dogtown (2005), following Mitch Hedberg's death.
Kronk's New Groove and Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005; both direct-to-video), following John Fiedler's death.
Angels with Angles (2005) and The Onion Movie (2008), both following Rodney Dangerfield's death.
18 Fingers of Death!(2006), released after the death of Pat Morita.
Everyone's Hero (2006), released after Dana Reeve's death.
Happy Feet (2006), following Steve Irwin's death from cardiac arrest while snorkelling, after removing a stingray barb lodged in his heart.
Cars (2006), following Joe Ranft's death.
The Darwin Awards (2006) and King of Sorrow (2007), both following Chris Penn's death.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006), following Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeve's deaths; for sequences where shots of Reeve had never been filmed, a double was used. In addition, another film featuring Brando, Superman Returns (2006), was released after his death.
Spymate (2006), Royal Kill (2009), Act Your Age (2011), Blunt Movie (2013), Rice Girl (2014), and The Real Miyagi (2015), all released after Pat Morita's death in 2005.
Air Buddies (2006; direct-to-video), following Patrick Cranshaw and Don Knotts's deaths.
Illegal Aliens (2007), following Anna Nicole Smith's death.
Waitress (2007), released just over six months after Adrienne Shelly's murder at the hands of Diego Pillco; the Ecuadorian immigrant was caught stealing money from Shelly and decided to strangle her to death with a bedsheet, then frame it as a suicide by hanging.
TMNT (2007), following Mako Iwamatsu's death.
All Roads Lead Home (2008), following Peter Boyle's death.
Delgo (2008), following Anne Bancroft and John Vernon's deaths.
The Dark Knight (2008) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), both released after Heath Ledger's death from acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine, as part of an attempted self-treatment of insomnia and a respiratory illness; Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, and stand-in Zander Gladish completed filming for Ledger's role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, while filming for The Dark Knight had already been completed.
The Informers (2008), following Brad Renfro's death.
Stargate: Continuum (2008), Far Cry (2008) and The Uninvited (2009), all following Don S. Davis's death.
Soul Men (2008), Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), and Old Dogs (2009), all released after Bernie Mac's death; singer Isaac Hayes, who died a day after Mac, also appeared in Soul Men.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), following actor Rob Knox's murder.
Cinéman (2009) and Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque) (2010), both released after Lucy Gordon's suicide.
Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009), following Jackson's death.
True Legend (2010), Stretch (2011) and Eldorado (2012), following David Carradine's death from asphyxiation.
Deadline (2010), Abandoned (2010) and Something Wicked (2014), all released after Brittany Murphy's death.
The Wildest Dream (2010), released over a year after Natasha Richardson's death from an epidural hematoma, following a head injury she sustained while taking a beginners' skiing course; she was not wearing a helmet at the time, and refused medical treatment following the accident, only to collapse in her hotel room three hours later.
Alpha and Omega (2010) and The Last Film Festival (2011), both released following Dennis Hopper’s death from prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones.
Barney's Version (2010), Casino Jack (2010), Conduct Unbecoming (2010), and The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour (2011), all following Maury Chaykin's death, on his 61st birthday, from complications of a heart valve infection.
Love and Other Drugs (2010) and Bridesmaids (2011), both following Jill Clayburgh's death from leukemia.
Iron Cross (2011), released over three years after Roy Scheider's death from multiple myeloma; as Scheider died before production was finished, his scenes were completed utilizing CGI techniques to stand in for the actor.
Killing Bono (2011), released less than three months after Pete Postlethwaite's death from pancreatic cancer.
Stonerville (2011) and The Waterman Movie (TBA), both released after Leslie Nielsen's death from pneumonia.
The Cup (2011), released nearly five months after Bill Hunter's death from cancer.
Dark Blood (2012), released nearly nineteen years after River Phoenix's death from a drug overdose.
The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2012), released two years after Kevin McCarthy's death.
Sparkle (2012), released over six months after actress/singer Whitney Houston's death from drowning in a bathtub, due to the effects of chronic cocaine use and heart disease.
Dark Shadows (2012), released a month after Jonathan Frid's death from pneumonia and complications after a fall.
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), released a month after Stephen Dunham's death from a heart attack.
A Resurrection (2013) and The Challenger (2015), both released after Michael Clarke Duncan's death from a heart attack
The Smurfs 2 (2013), released following Jonathan Winters's death from natural causes.
Prince Avalanche (2013), released a year after Lance LeGault's death.
About Time (2013), released after Richard Griffiths's death.
McCanick (2013), released after Cory Monteith's death from a drug overdose.
Get a Horse! (2013), released nearly 47 years after Walt Disney's death; the film utilized archival recordings of Disney's voice to construct a "performance" from him as Mickey Mouse.
Enough Said (2013) and The Drop (2014), released after James Gandolfini's death from cardiac arrest.
Manam (film) (2014), released 4 months after Akkineni Nageswara Rao's death
Brick Mansions (2014) and Furious 7 (2015), both released after Paul Walker’s death in a car accident; a third film, Hours (2013), had premiered at a March 2013 film festival, but only went into wide release after Walker’s death. While Furious 7 was still on break from filming, it was announced his brothers, Caleb and Cody utilized to stand-in body doubles to complete their brother's role.
Authors Anonymous (2014), released a year after Dennis Farina's death.
Wish I Was Here (2014), released after the death of James Avery.
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014), released after Justin Carmical's suicide; he voiced some additional characters in the film.
Asthma (2014), released five months after Rene Ricard's death.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015), both released following Philip Seymour Hoffman's death from a drug overdose; a further two films, God's Pocket (2014) and A Most Wanted Man (2014), had appeared in film festivals before Hoffman's death, but only went into wide release following his death.
The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014), released after Ed Lauter's death the previous year from mesothelioma.
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), released after the deaths of Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams, respectively. In addition, two other films featuring Williams, A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014) and Absolutely Anything (2015), were also released after his death.
De ontsnapping ("The Escape") (2015), released a year released after Rik Mayall's death.
Tomorrowland (2015), Kickboxer (2015), and Pound of Flesh (2015) all released after Darren Shahlavi's death.
The Peanuts Movie (2015), released 7 years after Bill Melendez's death from natural causes in 2008; the film utilized archival recordings of Melendez to play the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock.
Ana Maria in Novela Land (2015) and Grandma (2015), both released after (with the second going into wide release over ten months after) Elizabeth Peña's death from cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol, acute gastrointestinal bleeding, cardiogenic shock, and cardiopulmonary arrest.
The Jungle Book (2016), released after Garry Shandling's death from a heart attack.
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), released after Alan Rickman's death from pancreatic cancer.
Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz (2016; direct-to-video), released after Joe Alaskey's death from cancer.
Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon (2016; direct-to-video), released after Dusty Rhodes' death from stomach cancer.
Star Trek Beyond (2016), Porto (2016), We Don't Belong Here (2016), Rememory (2017), and Thoroughbred (2017) all to be released after Anton Yelchin's death in a fatal car accident.
The Matchbreaker (2016), released after Christina Grimmie's death from gunshot.
Bomb City (2017), to be released after Ron Lester's death from liver and kidney failure.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), to be released after Carrie Fisher's death from cardiac arrest.
Monster Trucks (2017), released after Jon Polito's death.
It's Not My Fault and I Don't Care Anyway (2017) and The Clapper (2017), to be released after Alan Thicke's death.
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017; direct-to-video), to be released after Miguel Ferrer's death.
Darkest Hour (2017), That Good Night (2017), My Name Is Lenny (2017), Back To Utopia (2017), and Damascus Cover (2017) to be released after John Hurt's death.
The Circle (2017), to be released after Bill Paxton's death from heart surgery.
Douglas Adams — The Salmon of Doubt
James Agee — A Death in the Family (initial publication assembled by David McDowell; alternate assembly later published by Michael Lofaro)
Shmuel Yosef Agnon — Shira
Georgius Agricola — De re metallica
Louisa May Alcott — A Long Fatal Love Chase
Horatio Alger — over thirty-five short novels after his death in 1899.
Isaac Asimov — Forward the Foundation
Jane Austen — Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sanditon, and Lady Susan
William Baldwin — Beware the Cat
L. Frank Baum — The Magic of Oz and Glinda of Oz
John Bellairs — The Ghost in the Mirror, The Vengeance of the Witch-finder, The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie, and The Doom of the Haunted Opera (all with Brad Strickland)
Cyrano de Bergerac — The Other World: The States and Empires of the Moon and The States and Empires of the Sun
Hélène Berr — The Journal of Hélène Berr
Marlon Brando and Donald Cammell — Fan Tan (with David Thomson)
Roberto Bolaño — 2666, Last Evenings on Earth, A Little Lumpen Novelita, The Romantic Dogs, The Secret of Evil, The Third Reich, and Woes of the True Policeman
Richard Brautigan — An Unfortunate Woman: A Journey
Charles Bukowski — over twenty books of poetry and short stories after his death in 1994.
Mikhail Bulgakov — The Master and Margarita
William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac — And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
Samuel Butler — The Way of All Flesh
Julius Caesar — Commentarii de Bello Civili
Albert Camus — A Happy Death, The First Man, as well as nine additional publications of notebooks and collected essays.
Xueqin Cao (trad.) — Dream of the Red Chamber
Angela Carter — American Ghosts and Old World Wonders, The Curious Room
Raymond Chandler — Poodle Springs (with Robert B. Parker)
Bruce Chatwin — Photographs and Notebooks, Anatomy of Restlessness, Winding Paths
Geoffrey Chaucer — The Canterbury Tales, Treatise on the Astrolabe
Agatha Christie — Sleeping Murder
Tom Clancy — Command Authority (with Mark Greaney)
Carl von Clausewitz — On War
Wilkie Collins — Blind Love (with Walter Besant)
Joseph Conrad — Suspense: A Napoleonic Novel
Robert Cormier — The Rag and Bone Shop
Rachel Corrie — Let Me Stand Alone
Hannah Crafts — The Bondwoman's Narrative
Stephen Crane — The O'Ruddy (with Robert Barr)
Michael Crichton — Pirate Latitudes, Micro
Adam Czerniakow — The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow: Prelude to Doom
Roald Dahl — Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety
Rene Daumal — Mount Analogue
David James Davies — Towards Welsh Freedom
James De Mille — A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder
Michael Dibdin — End Games
Philip K. Dick — Gather Yourselves Together, Radio Free Albemuth, Humpty Dumpty in Oakland, Voices from the Street
Charles Dickens — The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Emily Dickinson — virtually all of her poems, as well as her letters.
Siobhan Dowd — Bog Child, Solace of the Road
Alexandre Dumas — The Knight of Sainte-Hermine (with Claude Schopp)
G.B. Edwards — The Book of Ebenezer Le Page
Eric Rücker Eddison — The Mezentian Gate
Ralph Ellison — Juneteenth, Three Days Before the Shooting...
Hans Fallada — Every Man Dies Alone
Julius Feldman — The Krakow Diary of Julius Feldman
Richard Feynman — What Do You Care What Other People Think?
Louise Fitzhugh — Sport
F. Scott Fitzgerald — The Last Tycoon, Trimalchio
Gustave Flaubert — Bouvard et Pécuchet, Dictionary of Received Ideas
Ian Fleming — The Man with the Golden Gun, Octopussy and the Living Daylights
Moshe Flinker — Young Moshe's Diary: The Spiritual Torment of a Jewish Boy in Nazi Europe
Wilson Follett — Follett's Modern American Usage
C. S. Forester — Hornblower and the Crisis
E. M. Forster — Maurice
Anne Frank — The Diary of a Young Girl
Julius Fučík — Notes from the Gallows
William Gaddis — Agapē Agape
Federico García Lorca — "Diván del Tamarit," "Poet in New York", "The House of Bernarda Alba", "Yerma", "The Public", "Sonnets of Dark Love"
Romain Gary — Vie et Mort d'Émile Ajar, L'homme à la Colombe, L'affaire Homme, L'orage
Frankie Gaye — Marvin Gaye: My Brother
Hugo Gernsback — Ultimate World
Petr Ginz — The Diary of Petr Ginz
William Golding — The Double Tongue
René Goscinny — Asterix in Belgium (with Albert Uderzo)
Archibald Gracie IV — The Truth About the Titanic (assembled and published by Mitchell Kennerley)
Lauren Grandcolas — You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls
Alexander Griboyedov — Woe from Wit, A Georgian Night
H. Rider Haggard — The Treasure of the Lake, Allan and the Ice-gods, Mary of Marion Isle, Belshazzar
Alex Haley — Queen: The Story of an American Family (with David Stevens)
Kenneth Halliwell — Lord Cucumber and The Boy Hairdresser (with Joe Orton)
Jean Harlow — Today is Tonight (with Carey Wilson)
E. Lynn Harris — Mama Dearest
Jaroslav Hašek — The Good Soldier Švejk (intended as a six-volume work, but Hašek had only finished four at the time of his death by tuberculosis)
Robert A. Heinlein — For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs (written in 1939, but not published until 2003, 15 years after his death)
Joseph Heller — Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man
Ernest Hemingway — Islands in the Stream, The Garden of Eden, True at First Light, A Moveable Feast, The Dangerous Summer, and Under Kilimanjaro
Hergé — Tintin and Alph-Art (assembled by Benoît Peeters, Michel Bareau, and Jean-Manuel Duvivier)
Eva Heyman — The Diary of Éva Heyman
Etty Hillesum — An Interrupted Life: The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943
Winifred Holtby — South Riding (with Vera Brittain)
Robert E. Howard — A Gent from Bear Creek, Almuric
C.L.R. James — American Civilization
Tove Jansson — The True Deceiver and Traveling Light, et al.
Alfred Jarry — Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, pataphysician
Humphrey Jennings — Pandaemonium, 1660-1886: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observer
W. E. Johns — Biggles Does Some Homewrok, Biggles: Air Ace
Robert Jordan — The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light (all with Brandon Sanderson)
Carl Jung — The Red Book
Franz Kafka — The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika, as well as many short stories.
Chaim Kaplan — Scroll of Agony: The Warsaw Diary of Chaim A. Kaplan
Aryeh Klonicki — The Diary of Adam's Father
David Koker — At the Edge of the Abyss: A Concentration Camp Diary, 1943-1944
Janusz Korczak — Ghetto Diary
Sergei Kourdakov — The Persecutor (autobiography)
Herman Kruk — The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania: Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto and the Camps, 1939-1944
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa — The Leopard, Stories, Lessons on Stendhal, Introduction to Sixteenth Century French Literature
Stieg Larsson — The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
Rutka Laskier — Rutka's Notebook
Mikhail Lermontov — "Demon", "The Princess of the Tide", "Valerik"
Abraham Lewin — A Cup of Tears: A Diary of the Warsaw Ghetto
Ruthka Lieblich — Ruthka: A Diary of War
David Lindsay — The Violet Apple and The Witch
Jack London — Jerry of the Islands, Michael, Brother of Jerry, "The Red One", Hearts of Three, The Assassination Bureau, Ltd (with Robert L. Fish)
Huey Long — My First Days in the White House
Robert Ludlum — The Janson Directive
Niccolò Machiavelli — The Prince
Kim Malthe-Bruun — Heroic Heart: The Diary and Letters of Kim Malthe-Bruun (titled Kim in Denmark)
Manning Marable — Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
William March — "Poor Pilgrim, Poor Stranger", 99 Fables
Christopher Marlowe — Hero and Leander (with George Chapman), "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"
Bruce Marshall — An Account of Capers
George du Maurier — The Martian
Michael McDowell — Candles Burning
Philip Mechanicus — Year of Fear: a Jewish Prisoner Waits for Auschwitz (also titled In Dépôt and Waiting for Death)
James A. Michener — Matecumbe
Walter M. Miller, Jr. — Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman (with Terry Bisson)
Yukio Mishima — The Decay of the Angel
Margaret Mitchell — Lost Laysen
Jessica Mitford — The American Way of Death Revisited
Vladimir Nabokov — The Original of Laura
Irène Némirovsky — Suite française
Eliot Ness — The Untouchables (with Oscar Fraley)
Frank Norris — The Pit: A Story of Chicago, Vandover and the Brute
John O'Brien — Stripper Lessons, The Assault on Tony's, Better
Patrick O'Brian — The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey
Flann O'Brien — The Third Policeman
Robert C. O'Brien — Z for Zachariah (with Sally M. Conly and Jane Leslie Conly)
Joe Orton — Head to Toe, Lord Cucumber, and The Boy Hairdresser (the latter two with Kenneth Halliwell)
Thomas Overbury — The Wife, Characters, The Remedy of Love, Observations in Foreign Travels
Wilfred Owen — almost all of his poems, the first edition being 24 Poems (1920)
Robert B. Parker — Split Image
Mervyn Peake — Titus Awakes
Persius — Satires
Petronius — Satyricon
Sylvia Plath — Ariel (book), Ennui (sonnet)
Pliny the Younger — Letters, Book Ten (to and from the Roman Emperor Trajan)
Edgar Allan Poe — "The Light-House", "The Bells", "Annabel Lee", "Alone", "An Acrostic"
Karel Poláček — There Were Five of Us (Czech: Bylo nás pět)
Jan Potocki — The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
Terry Pratchett — The Shepherd's Crown, The Long Utopia, The Long Cosmos
Mario Puzo — Omerta; The Family
Egon Redlich — The Terezin Diary of Gonda Redlich
Oskar Rosenfeld — In the Beginning Was the Ghetto: Notebooks from Lodz
Dawid Rubinowicz — The Diary of Dawid Rubinowicz
Yitskhok Rudashevski — Diary of the Vilna Ghetto
Carl Sagan — Billions and Billions
Dr. Seuss — Daisy-Head Mayzie, My Many Colored Days, Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! (with Jack Prelutsky), What Pet Should I Get?
Yaakov Shabtai — Past Perfect (Sof Davar)
M. P. Shiel — The New King
Philip Sidney — The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, Astrophel and Stella, An Apology for Poetry, The Lady of May
Dawid Sierakowiak — The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak: Five Notebooks from the Lodz Ghetto
Shel Silverstein — Runny Babbit, Every Thing On It
Philip Slier — Hidden Letters
Thorne Smith — The Passionate Witch (with Norman H. Matson)
Edmund Spencer — A View of the Present State of Ireland
Platt Rogers Spencer — Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship
Theodore Sturgeon — Godbody
J.R.R. Tolkien — The Silmarillion (assembled by Christopher Tolkien), The Children of Húrin (published 35 years after his death; also assembled by Christopher Tolkien) Other posthumous publications can be found here.
Leo Tolstoy — The Living Corpse, Hadji Murat
John Kennedy Toole — A Confederacy of Dunces, The Neon Bible
Margaret Truman — Murder inside the Beltway, Monument To Murder
Mark Twain — The Mysterious Stranger
Jerzy Feliks Urman — I'm Not Even a Grownup: The Diary of Jerzy Feliks Urman
Jules Verne — The Lighthouse at the End of the World, The Golden Volcano, The Thompson Travel Agency, The Chase of the Golden Meteor, The Danube Pilot, The Survivors of the "Jonathan", The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz, "The Eternal Adam", The Barsac Mission, Paris in the Twentieth Century, Backwards to Britain
Virgil — The Aeneid
Kurt Vonnegut — Armageddon in Retrospect, Look at the Birdie, Sucker's Portfolio, While Mortals Sleep
David Foster Wallace — The Pale King (assembled by Michael Pietsch)
Edward Lewis Wallant — The Tenants of Moonbloom, The Children at the Gate
Béla Weichherz — In Her Father's Eyes: A Childhood Extinguished by the Holocaust
Edward Noyes Westcott — David Harum (published version assembled by Ripley Hitchcock)
Thomas Wolfe — The Web and the Rock, You Can't Go Home Again, The Hounds of Darkness, The Hills Beyond (all assembled by Maxwell Perkins and Edward Aswell)
Sam Loeb — Superman/Batman Vol 1 #26 The Boys Are Back in Town (finished by Jeph Loeb, Arthur Adams, Joe Casey, John Cassaday, Joyce Chin, Ian Churchill, Allan Heinberg, Geoff Johns, Joe Kelly, Mike Kunkel, Jim Lee, Pat Lee, Rob Liefeld, Paul Levitz, Joe Madureira, Jeff Matsuda, Ed McGuinness, Brad Meltzer, Carlos Pacheco, Duncan Rouleau, Tim Sale, Richard Starkings, Michael Turner, Brian K. Vaughan, Mark Verheiden, and Joss Whedon
Mary Wollstonecraft — Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman (later chapters assembled by William Godwin)
Virginia Woolf — Between the Acts
John Wyndham — Web, Sleepers of Mars, The Best of John Wyndham, Wanderers of Time, Exiles on Asperus, No Place like Earth
Malcolm X — The Autobiography of Malcolm X (with Alex Haley)
Marcus Aurelius — Meditations
Walter Benjamin — Theses on the Philosophy of History, Arcades Project (assembled by Rolf Tiedemann; translated by Howard Eiland and Kevin McLaughlin)
David Hume — Dialogues concerning Natural Religion
Edmund Husserl — Experience and Judgment (edited by Ludwig Landgrebe)
Martin Heidegger — Contributions to Philosophy, Insight Into What Is
Søren Kierkegaard — The Point of View of My Work as an Author, Writing Sampler, Judge for Yourselves!
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz — The Monadology
Friedrich Nietzsche — The Will to Power (assembled by Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche and Heinrich Köselitz)
Baruch Spinoza — Ethics
Ludwig Wittgenstein — Philosophical Investigations (edited and translated by G. E. M. Anscombe)
Wilhelm B. Hillebrand — Flora of the Hawaiian Islands (published posthumously in 1888 by his son, William Francis Hillebrand)
19th Century and Earlier
Frédéric Chopin's opuses 66-74 contain more than twenty posthumous works.
"Beautiful Dreamer", published in 1864, shortly after the death of songwriter Stephen Foster; at the time of publication of its first edition, it was promoted as "the last song ever written by Stephen C. Foster, composed but a few days prior to his death," though it actually may have been written as early as 1862.
The phonautograms of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville were not able to be played back, using digital technology, until long after his death in 1879.
"Cannibal Carnival", a dance barbarique, published in late May 1920, three months after composer Sol P. Levy's death on Valentine's Day earlier that year; Levy's composition was later popularized as thematic stock material in such films as Trader Horn and the Tarzan film series.
Turandot, a three-act opera by Giacomo Puccini, was finished by fellow composer Franco Alfano and premiered, almost two years after Puccini's death, on April 25, 1926.
"Your Cheatin' Heart", "Kaw-Liga", and "Take These Chains from My Heart", three singles released after Hank Williams's death from a heart attack in January 1953, brought on by a fatal combination of alcohol, chloral hydrate, vitamin B12, and morphine.
"Peggy Sue Got Married" and other songs by Buddy Holly were released after his death in February 1959. Ritchie Valens, who died along with Holly, his three albums: a self-titled album, Ritchie and In Concert at Pacoima Jr. High were all released after his death as well.
Last Recordings, released just days after Billie Holiday's death from heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver in July 1959.
"Lonely" and "Weekend", two singles released after Eddie Cochran's death in a taxi accident in April 1960.
Several of Patsy Cline's singles and albums were released after her death in a 1963 plane crash; most importantly the singles "Leavin' on Your Mind", "Sweet Dreams (Of You)", and "Faded Love" became hits, and the albums The Patsy Cline Story, A Portrait of Patsy Cline, That's How a Heartache Begins, and Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits were released.
The single "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released a month after the plane crash that killed singer Otis Redding.
"I'm Sorry" and "Seabreeze" by Frankie Lymon were released in 1969, a year after Lymon's untimely death from an accidental heroin overdose.
Most of the extensive catalog of American guitarist Jimi Hendrix; in his lifetime, Hendrix only saw the release of three albums by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, a compilation by the same group, and a live album by the Band of Gypsys.
Janis Joplin's Pearl was released in February 1971, four months after her death. Joplin had recorded all the vocals for all the songs (except "Buried Alive In The Blues") before she died. Her band, the Full Tilt Boogie Band, recorded the music.
Several of Jim Croce's singles and albums were released after his 1973 death in a plane crash.
Various home recordings by Nick Drake have been released since his death in 1974 to satisfy growing interest in his work.
Various live recordings and studio outtakes by Tim Buckley have been released posthumously 1975 from an accidental overdose of heroin and alcohol.
Two songs performed by Donny Hathaway (in collaboration with Roberta Flack) - "Back Together Again" and "You Are My Heaven" - were released in 1980, two years following his death.
Closer, in August 1980, after the suicide of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis on May 17 of that year. The remaining members of Joy Division later went on to form New Order.
John Lennon's hit singles "Woman" and "Watching the Wheels" were released shortly after his murder. The album Milk and Honey, which includes the song "Nobody Told Me", came out two years later.
Coda (1982) by Led Zeppelin was released two years after the death of John Bonham.
Confrontation (1983) by Bob Marley and the Wailers was released two years after Marley's death from metastatic melanoma.
Four albums by The Carpenters have been released since the death of Karen Carpenter: Voice of the Heart, An Old-Fashioned Christmas, Lovelines and As Time Goes By. Her aborted solo album has also been released, simply titled Karen Carpenter.
The Marvin Gaye albums Dream of a Lifetime (1985, Columbia), Romantically Yours (1985, Columbia) (the single "Sanctified Lady" became a modest international hit when it was released in 1985 reaching number two on the American R&B charts and number fifty-seven in the UK.) and Vulnerable (1997, Motown) (which was the aborted The Ballads album) were released after his death by his father in 1984.
My Place, a solo album by Australian guitarist Guy McDonough (Australian Crawl), was released in 1985 after his death.
The live album Ballot Result by the punk band The Minutemen was released two years after the death of lead singer/guitarist D. Boon in a van accident.
The song "To Live Is to Die" on heavy metal band Metallica's fourth studio album ...And Justice for All (1988) was written by Cliff Burton, the late bass player whose untimely death occurred in Sweden while he was on tour with Metallica in 1986.
Divine died in 1988, followed by the release of The Best Of and the Rest Of (1989) (compilation), 12 Inch Collection (1993) (compilation), Born To Be Cheap (1995) (live), Shoot Your Shot (1995), The Originals and the Remixes (1996) (2-CD compilation), and The Best of Divine (1997) (compilation).
Mystery Girl by Roy Orbison; it spawned a hit single in "You Got It".
I Wonder Do You Think of Me (1989), Kentucky Bluebird (1991), Keith Whitley: A Tribute Album (1994), and Wherever You Are Tonight (1995) were all released following Keith Whitley's death from an alcohol overdose in 1989.
Apple, the sole album by grunge band Mother Love Bone, was released days after lead singer Andrew Wood's death in 1990.
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas was released posthumously after the murder of Mayhem's guitarist, Euronymous, and posthumously the after the suicide of vocalist Dead.
MTV Unplugged in New York, on November 1, 1994 after singer/songwriter/guitarist Kurt Cobain's death on April 5 of the same year; also From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, With the Lights Out and Sliver: The Best of the Box. There was also a single, "You Know You're Right", recorded on January 30, 1994 at Bob Lang Studios during Nirvana's final studio session; it was finally released on the band's compilation album, Nirvana, eight years after Cobain's death.
Dreaming of You (1995), the only English album by Selena, was released four months after her murder by Yolanda Saldívar.
Queen album Made in Heaven was released four years after the death of frontman Freddie Mercury in 1991.
Eazy-E's album Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton (1995) was released eight months after his death from AIDS.
Antonio Brasileiro and Tom Jobim were both released after Antonio Carlos Jobim's death from cardiac arrest on December 8, 1994.
The Beatles' songs "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", wherein the three surviving Beatles overdubbed onto home recordings by John Lennon.
The self-titled album from California ska group Sublime was released after singer/songwriter/guitarist Bradley Nowell's 1996 heroin overdose death.
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996), R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (1997), Still I Rise (1999), Until the End of Time (2001), Better Dayz (2002), Tupac: Resurrection (2003), Loyal to the Game (2004), and Pac's Life (2006) were all released after Tupac Shakur's death on September 13, 1996.
Eva by Heart (1997), Time After Time (2000), Imagine (2002), American Tune (2003), Somewhere (2008), and Simply Eva (2011), all after Eva Cassidy's death from melanoma in 1996.
Mystery White Boy and Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk were released after the death of Jeff Buckley in 1997.
The Notorious B.I.G.'s albums Life After Death, Born Again and Duets: The Final Chapter were released after his murder in 1997.
Michael Hutchence, a self-titled album by the original frontman of INXS, was released after his 1997 death of autoerotic asphyxiation.
Austrian pop star Falco's last album, Out of the Dark (Into the Light), was released in February, 1998 in Europe and March, 1998 worldwide. Falco died on 2 February 1998 in a car accident.
California session singer Warren Wiebe has been featured on various compilation albums following his suicide in October, 1998 as well as several demo recordings.
Rapper Big L's album The Big Picture was released in 2000, a year after he was shot to death in his own neighborhood; the murder is still unsolved.
Kevin Gilbert's concept album, The Shaming of the True, released in 2000, four years after his death from autoerotic asphyxiation.
Aaliyah's music video for her song "Rock the Boat" was completed the morning of her death. Her album I Care 4 U was released posthumously, with six previously unreleased tracks.
Don't Worry About Me, the only solo album by Joey Ramone, was released a year after Joey's death in 2001.
Brainwashed by George Harrison, completed by producer Jeff Lynne and son Dhani Harrison.
3D (2002), TLC's last studio album, was released just seven months after Lisa Lopes' death from a car accident. Lopes' own second studio album, Eye Legacy was released in January 2009, almost seven years after her death.
Streetcore, the third and final album by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, was released a little less than a year after Strummer's death.
The Shining, by J Dilla.
From a Basement on the Hill and New Moon were released after Elliott Smith's death.
Rebel Meets Rebel, a collaboration album by David Allan Coe and Pantera, released over a year after Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was murdered.
Two albums, Katorz (2006) and Infini (2009), by thrash metal band Voivod were released after the death of lead guitarist Denis D'Amour in 2005.
American V: A Hundred Highways (2006) and American VI: Ain't No Grave (2010) were both released after Johnny Cash's death in 2003.
Korean singer U;Nee's last album, Habit, was released five days after her death in 2007.
Gerald Levert's In My Songs was released after his death.
Toše Proeski's album The Hardest Thing was released posthumously in 2009, two years after his death in a car accident.
LeRoi Moore, founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died of complications from an ATV accident while Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King was still in production. The album was released approximately 9 months after his passing.
Michael Jackson's song "This Is It" was released after his death in 2009.
Nightmare, the fifth album by metal band Avenged Sevenfold, was released on July 27, 2010, almost 7 months after the death of drummer The Rev on December 28, 2009.
Michael, a collection of formerly unreleased tracks by Michael Jackson, was released on December 14, 2010.
Black Beauty, an unreleased album by the group Love shelved 38 years ago, was finally released in 2011 — five years after the death of its frontman, Arthur Lee.
Luther Vandross's single Shine was released in 2006, the year following his death.
Several albums by Stevie Ray Vaughan were released after his death in 1990.
Brother by Boyzone was released in March 8, 2010, months after member Stephen Gately's death from natural causes on October 10, 2009.
In Love And War (aka ILAW, originally The Sickos Project) by Francis M. and Ely Buendia was released in May 2010, months after master rapper Francis Magalona died on March 6, 2009 cause diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
Manic Street Preachers released an album, Journal for Plague Lovers using lyrics constructed by Richey Edwards before his disappearance.
Lioness: Hidden Treasures, an album of lost recordings (from 2002 to 2011) by British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, was released on December 5, 2011; four months after her death on July 23. Two singles were also released: "Our Day Will Come", on December 5; and "Body & Soul", which is a duet with the legendary Tony Bennett, on the day that would have been her 28th birthday.
La Misma Gran Señora by Jenni Rivera was released on December 11, 2012, two days after Rivera had died in a plane crash.
Lost My Way by Tim Ryan was released on October 8, 2013, approximately two years following a fatal car crash.
Xscape by Michael Jackson was released on May 9, 2014, almost five years after his death in 2009.
"Let Me in Your Heart Again" and "There Must Be More to Life Than This (with Michael Jackson)" were released after the death of Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, and Michael Jackson's death in 2009. They were both released for the album Queen Forever.
Pink Floyd's 2014 album The Endless River was released 6 years after keyboardist Richard Wright's death.
Chinx Drugz's album Welcome To JFK was released one month after his death.
Pantelis Pantelidis' album Thimame was released 4 months after his death.
You and I, a compilation of early studio recordings by Jeff Buckley was released 19 years after his death.
Note: Records released after the split of a band are also sometimes referred as "posthumous", even if all members are still alive.
