The Six Pack

Six posthumously released performances.

by Matt Prigge

Bela Lugosi, Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959): Cinema history is filled with actors who died on the set of their last film (Brandon Lee, to name one), but few devoted as little to their projects as Lugosi. The Romanian ham didn’t even know he was making Ed Wood’s most famous product—the director simply took home footage of his washed-up friend, then hired a chiropractor with a similar head shape to run around with a cape over his face. Tribute or exploitation? Why not both!

Clark Gable, The Misfits (1961): Rumor goes that right after completing this Arthur Miller-penned drama, Gable remarked about famously neurotic co-star Marilyn Monroe, “She damn near gave me a heart attack.” The next day he suffered a heart attack. Eleven days later he was dead.

Robert Shaw, The Avalanche Express (1979): Shaw The Sting, Jaws) wasn’t the only one to die of a heart attack during the shooting of this train-set thriller. Also going out was the film’s director Mark Robson (Valley of the Dolls).Two-Lane Blacktop great Monte Hellman took over for Robson while an impersonator took over for Shaw’s weak voice.

Natalie Wood, Brainstorm (1983): After Wood drowned under questionable circumstances before finishing this brainy sci-fi thriller from special effects wizard Douglas Trumbull ( 2001, Silent Running), execs tried to shut it down and cash the insurance. But Trumbull persisted and the film wound up released—almost two years later and to box office indifference. Where are your hearts, moviegoers of 1983?

Oliver Reed, Gladiator (2000): After racking up a reported $866 alcohol bill on the set, Reed died before all his footage was shot. Thanks to the magic of CGI, the filmmakers were able to give his character a mass stabbing scene, bringing a career mostly wasted by booze to an awkward close.

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (2008): Bring on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, yo.