Rest In Peace- Ten Actors That Died During Filming

   Death doesn't take a holiday. Not even when a movie production is underway. Many of these tragic tales were major news stories. Some are still the subject of varied speculation. How did(fill in the blank) die again? What became of the film he or she was working on? How might things have turned out differently? Here are ten actors that left unfinished business.

Bruce Lee- "Game of Death"(1978)
It's common knowledge that the martial arts deity's last completed film was 1973's "Enter the Dragon". Suffering from seizures and headaches, Lee was in Hong Kong taking a break from shooting the aptly titled "Game of Death" on July 20th of that same year, when he took a nap that he never woke up from. The official cause of death was acute cerebral edema(swelling of the brain) brought on by a hypersensitivity to painkillers. The massive interest in Lee throughout the 1970s prompted Golden Harvest studios to enlist "Dragon" director John Clouse to finish the movie five years later with the use of stand-ins and archival footage from his previous films. The portions with the real Bruce that remained intact included three fight scenes in his iconic yellow track suit. It was enough to satisfy diehard fans despite the 'lookalikes' that bore little resemblance and the obvious difference in quality between the two prints that were melded together. Nearly forty years later, the cult of Lee lives on.

Natalie Wood- "Brainstorm"(1983)
The beautiful actress was best known for her roles in such classics as "Miracle on 34th Street", "Splendor in the Grass", "Rebel Without a Cause" and "West Side Story". She received three Academy Award nominations before age 25. During a production break on this sci-fi dud, Wood drowned during a late night weekend boat trip with husband Robert Wagner and co-star Christopher Walken on November 29, 1981. She was 43. "Brainstorm" almost wasn't released at all, and director Douglas Trumball insisted that the end result would have been much more cohesive had Natalie lived to complete her role. Her death was declared an accident for 31 years, however a new investigation in 2012 reclassified the cause as 'undetermined'.

Vic Morrow- "The Twilight Zone: The Movie"(1983)
The veteran film and television actor played an outspoken racist in the first of three stories in this big screen update of the classic TV show that aired from 1959-63. Morrow's character travels back in time and is thrust into various points in history where he finds out what's it's like to be a persecuted victim. As a Jew, he winds up in Germany during the Holocaust; he's then confronted by members of the Klu Klux Klan who think he's black; and finally he's transported to the Vietnam War where U.S. soldiers treat him like a Vietnamese man. During the filming of the Vietnam scenes, a pyrotechnics explosion caused a stunt helicopter to crash on top of Morrow and two child actors playing Vietnamese children on July 23, 1982. All three were decapitated. Director John Landis and several others including the pilot and producer Steven Spielberg were later acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in a 1987 trial.

Heather O'Rourke- "Poltergeist III"(1988)
The adorable child actor made her mark on horror film lore when she delivered the famous line, "They're here" as Carol Anne Freeling in the 1982 haunted house hit "Poltergeist". She was one of only two members of the original cast to come back for a cheap third installment that was symptomatic of an overworked genre that was being driven into the ground by cash-grab sequels. O'Rourke became ill shortly before beginning work on the film and was misdiagnosed with Crohn's disease and prescribed a medication that puffed up her cheeks. Her condition took a sudden turn for the worst during the latter stages of production and she was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest one month after her twelfth birthday. A body double, a few script alterations and some messy special effects were employed to obscure the fact that Carol Anne's face is never seen in the closing moments of the film. This is the biggest example of the so-called 'Curse of Poltergeist'- Dominique Dunn, Julian Beck and Will Sampson all died soon after their appearances in the franchise.

Brandon Lee- "The Crow"(1994)
The rising young actor who made his film debut in 1992's "Rapid Fire" eerily died twenty years after his legendary father at the age of 28 from a freak on-set accident during the filming of his second starring role in this gothic comic book flick that clearly drew inspiration from Tim Burton's "Batman". He plays a slain rock and roll singer turned dark avenging angel that stalks the vile thugs who murdered him and his girlfriend. In the last days of filming, Lee was shot and killed by a 'prop' gun that contained a live round. This tragic event created a mystique that obviously helped the movie at the box office.  Would it have been as successful had he lived? Would Brandon have been a major star? We'll never know.

River Phoenix- "Dark Blood"(2012)
The brooding '80s teen idol whose credits included "Stand By Me", "Running on Empty", and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" had three weeks of work left on this strange drama when he made that fateful trip to the Viper Room nightclub in LA on October 30, 1993. Phoenix overdosed on cocaine and heroin after a night of partying with girlfriend Samantha Mathis, brother Joaquin, Johnny Depp, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Unable to shoot important scenes involving his young star, Dutch director George Sluizer soon abandoned the project. Eighteen years later, Sluizer announced that with some re-editing and adjustments he would soon be able to complete the movie and screen it at the Netherlands Film Festival. The initial feedback indicates that he shouldn't have bothered. This is a film that would have most likely been long forgotten had River lived.

John Candy- "Wagon's East"(1994)

The gregarious funnyman whose presence lit up numerous comedic hits such as "The Blues Brothers", "National Lampoon's Vacation", "Splash", "Spaceballs", "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", "Uncle Buck", and "Home Alone" just to name a few, couldn't have wanted this dreadful mock Western to be his swan song. Candy had expressed a desire to graduate to more serious roles in the early '90s, yet Hollywood seemed unwilling to grant him those opportunities which led to depressing vehicles like this one. He's barely recognizable in a hat and scruffy beard as a drunken wagon master and his lack of enthusiasm for the project was evident. Candy died of a heart attack in his sleep on March 4, 1994 while on location in Mexico. The filmmakers claimed that he had finished his work on the film, others say he was replaced by a stunt double and many scenes were hastily rewritten not to include him. The movie flopped, but Candy's legacy as a comedy great remains secure.

Oliver Reed- "Gladiator"(2000)

The burly English actor was just as famous for his heavy drinking as he was for his tough guy roles in the '60s and '70s in films like "The Trap", 'Oliver!", and "The Three Musketeers"(he scarred his face in a 1963 bar brawl). He died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 61 on May 2, 1999 while working on Ridley Scott's historical epic as the old, gruff gladiator trainer Proximo who gives Russell Crowe's Maximus a chance at freedom. Some of his scenes had to be completed using CGI techniques at an estimated cost of $3.2 million and in one instance, a mannequin. It was worth the trouble. The film was a major box office hit and the winner of the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Actor(Crowe).

Gloria Fisher- "The Matrix Reloaded/The Matrix Revolutions"(2003)

The African-American stage actress became best known as the mysterious and powerful Oracle who helps Neo(Keanu Reeves) discover that he is 'The One' in the 1999 sci-fi classic "The Matrix". The two sequels were filmed back to back in 2001-02 and Foster was tapped to reprise her role but sadly she never made it to the third film. She passed away from diabetes at the age of 67 and was replaced by Mary Alice who coincidentally had worked with Foster in the theater in 1995. The Oracle is a computer program which explained the change in appearance and the increasingly muddled mythology of the series made it a relatively easy transition for the Wachowski brothers.

Heath Ledger- "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"(2009)
The daring Australian actor who received widespread acclaim for his performances in "Brokeback Mountain" and "The Dark Knight"(and a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the latter) was exhaustively in the mist of shooting Terry Gilliam's bizarre fantasy in London when he decided to take a few much needed days off in New York. On January 22, 2008, he was found unconcious and unresponsive by his housekeeper in a rented Manhattan loft and was soon pronounced dead from an apparent abuse of multiple prescription medications. Gilliam temporarily suspended production of the film but ultimately decided that Heath's final performance needed to be preserved and enlisted Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to play the magical re-incarnations of his character Tony. All three actors donated their salaries to Ledger's daughter Matilda. How well the movie turned out is debatable, but there's no question that the film world was robbed of a great talent.