Dying onscreen poses a unique challenge for an actor, but some are more accustomed to
it than others. In fact, some stars seem like they die during just about every movie they're
in. Grab a shovel and join us for a look at a few of Hollywood's finest fake dead people.
Spoilers ahead! Also, some not-very-pleasant-looking movie massacres.
Samuel L. Jackson
For a guy who's made an excellent living playing imposing characters, Samuel L. Jackson seems
to meet his maker in the movies on a surprisingly regular basis. This has more than a little
to do with the law of averages. Simply put, when you make over 100 films, you're bound
to be called upon for your share of death scenes. But Jackson's many movie deaths—over
20 in all, and still growing—include some of modern cinema's most memorable character
exits, like in Goodfellas, Jurassic Park, and True Romance. But our favorites? There's
the time he was suddenly slaughtered by a shark in Deep Blue Sea:
"Aaahhhhh!"
And sent plummeting to his death by evil Emperor Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith.
"Aaaahhh!"
Gary Busey
Character actor and real-life character Gary Busey has died onscreen more than 20 times,
and we're pretty sure he's the only actor to be killed for the cameras by Dolly Parton,
Ice-T, and Snoop Dogg. Other memorable offings have come courtesy of his roles in Lethal
Weapon, Predator 2, and Point Break.
Lance Henriksen
One of the most prolific murder victims in movie history, Lance Henriksen has had the
honor of being offed by some pretty heavy hitters. He died in The Terminator, Aliens,
and Alien vs. Predator, as well as one of the many Hellraiser sequels. It's hard to
pick a favorite from Henriksen's list of more than 30 deaths, but ours might be the barely
remembered Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Hard Target, in which Henriksen's character has
a grenade shoved down his pants.
John Hurt
Obviously, plenty of esteemed actors have bit the big one in multiple movies, but John
Hurt takes cinematic corpsehood to another level. Not only has he compiled more screen
deaths than arguably any other actor—over 40 in all, including Contact, Hellboy, and
V for Vendetta—but the Oscar-nominated legend also boasts one of the most memorable exits
of all-time: he was the first victim of a "chestburster" in Alien, suffering a gory
demise that's made millions of moviegoers jump screaming out of their seats:
(screams)
Sean Bean
Sean Bean's tendency for playing doomed characters is so well-known that it's inspired its own
website, countless memes, and a number of in-depth analytical studies to determine whether
he has, in fact, died onscreen more than any other actor. We'll leave that to the number-crunchers.
Suffice it to say we've watched Bean pass away more times than we, or he, can count,
like in Goldeneye, Patriot Games, and, of course, Game of Thrones.
He said to the Daily Mail:
"Maybe it's the quality of my death people are fascinated by. I liked Lord of the Rings."
Nicolas Cage
In real life, we suspect Nicolas Cage might be immortal, but at the movies, he's uncommonly
susceptible to memorably messy deaths. He took a stake through the chest in Vampire's
Kiss, drank himself to death in Leaving Las Vegas, was burned to a crisp in Kick-Ass,
just to name a few. But no matter how many times he dies onscreen, our favorite will
always be the insane way he perishes in the all-around crazy 2006 remake of The Wicker
Man. Before that movie came along, we'd never have guessed we needed to see Cage punch a
woman while wearing a bear suit, or watch him howl in over-the-top agony while having
his face covered with bees:
"Aaahhhh! Aaahhh!"
Now that we've seen it, our lives will never be the same.
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp's distinguished career includes over a dozen "killer" moments, including his
electrocution at the hands of Charlize Theron in The Astronaut's Wife, and being eaten by
the Kraken in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. His best movie death, however,
will probably always be his first: in the original Nightmare on Elm Street, Depp's character
is yoinked down into his bed after falling asleep, sending a gushing fountain blood spraying
up into the room after he's gone.
Even in a franchise known for its spectacular death scenes, it remains a standout.
Michael Biehn
After awhile, it got to the point where as soon as you saw Michael Biehn's face on screen,
you started counting down the minutes until his inevitable death. He's arguably the most
important victim in The Terminator, he's imploded in The Abyss, and he's shot in the forehead
by Val Kilmer in Tombstone…and those are just the R.I.P. highlights from his first
10 years in the movies. He's gone on to the great beyond more than 20 times, but our favorite
might be the crowbar to the head he took in Stiletto, a little-seen 2008 effort featuring
Castle star Stana Katic.
Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo seems like one of the few Hollywood stars who could legitimately handle himself
in a violent life-or-death situation, but he's been on the losing end in more than a
few mortal movie conflicts during his career. Early on, he was often called on as cannon
fodder in action films, dying at the hands of Charles Bronson in Death Wish IV and being
blown up in the Gary Busey flick Bulletproof, but he's graduated to more exotic deaths in
more recent years. Some of Trejo's more memorable exits include his grisly demise in Predators.
But for us, his best death scene will always be the poignant mercy killing courtesy of
Robert De Niro in Michael Mann's classic 1995 action thriller Heat.
Bruce Willis
Never mind Die Hard. For much of his career, Bruce Willis' mantra seems to have been "die
often." His dozen-plus on-screen deaths have included crucial turning points in movies
like Twelve Monkeys and The Jackal, and it was his character who had the honor of saving
the planet by being blown up on an asteroid in Armageddon. He's also had a couple of really
stylish deaths courtesy of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, biting the dust in
Sin City and Grindhouse. His greatest death might be his most mind-blowing: namely, the
sneaky way he bit the dust in The Sixth Sense:
"I see dead people"
But when he dies as a result of a time paradox in the 2012 sci-fi classic, Looper? That one
might be our favorite.
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