Stars are just like us: nowhere near indestructible.
While shooting a TV show can be a relatively cushy job, it can also sometimes be dangerous,
and potentially even fatal.
Here are some actors who were almost slain due to stunts gone wrong, crew carelessness,
or their own near-fatal mistakes.
Matthew Fox While filming a scene for the final episode
of Lost in 2010, star Matthew Fox nearly lost his life, according to co-star Jorge Garcia,
who recounted the ordeal on his podcast about the final season.
In the show's finale, Fox's Jack and Terry O'Quinn's Locke fight on a cliff, and at one
point, Locke stabs Jack.
The show's creative team didn't think a collapsible stunt knife looked convincing on camera, so
they filmed all the fighting with a real knife, and planned to use the collapsible one only
to film the stabbing.
But they forgot to swap out the knives when it came time to shoot the scene, and during
one take, O'Quinn accidentally started to stab Fox with the real deal.
Fortunately, Fox took the stunt coordinator's
advice and wore protective kevlar under his shirt, which likely saved his life.
Mariska Hargitay
Actress Mariska Hargitay prides herself on doing her own stunts on NBC's long-running
police procedural Law and Order: SVU, and for about 10 years, Hargitay did so without
incident, until October 2008, when she "fell wrong" while trying to execute a stunt.
More accurately, she jumped, landed wrong, and fell in such a way that she damaged a
lung, leading to a microscopic bleed.
Over the course of the next three months, her lung slowly started collapsing, and she
eventually required multiple surgeries to repair her lung and reverse the potentially
life-threatening condition.
Kristin Chenoweth
In the summer of 2012, actress Kristin Chenoweth was filming scenes for what was supposed to
be a guest-starring arc on the CBS legal drama The Good Wife.
But a freak accident ended those plans: a piece of the lighting rig came loose and fell
right on her face, knocking her unconscious.
"I was just standing there with my prop phone, and I just remember saying, 'Oh, this phone
is …' That's all I remember."
When she woke up later in the hospital, she learned that she'd fractured her skull and
injured her hip and a rib.
Two years later, she was still in physical therapy to recover from the accident.
Dominic Purcell
In early 2016, Dominic Purcell was filming scenes in Morocco for the revival of Prison
Break.
In a bizarre turn of events, a piece of the set broke free and fell right on top of the
actor's head.
"Blood was just pouring all over me, and then my stunt guy came up to me, and he says, 'Well,
here's the thing: your head's cut open, I can see your skull…"
Purcell suffered a broken nose and a minor head injury.
But the show must go on: shooting continued as Purcell was airlifted to a large hospital
in Casablanca.
Not long after the accident, Purcell reassured fans on his Instagram page: "Pays to have
a thick skull when an iron bar falls on your head!"
The Brady Bunch
In 1973, The Brady Bunch filmed at the King's Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio.
In the episode, the plan was to have The Bradys take a ride on the Red Racer roller coaster.
To get the shot, the producers wanted to put a camera operator in the front car of the
coaster to catch the actors' real reactions.
Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz ordered a test run of the coaster with just a camera
mounted on the front car — no camera operator, and no Bradys.
The camera was too high and hit an overhang during the test.
Were it the real deal, the camera operator would have been struck as well, and the ride
could have been dangerous for him and the Bradys.
Ultimately, the camera was rigged in a lower, safer, spot, and the scene was filmed without
a hitch.
Aaron Paul
In the DVD commentary for the first season of Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul revealed that
he was almost crushed while shooting a scene in the desert in front of the show's RV-slash-mobile
meth lab. Paul adjusted his blocking while filming with co-star Bryan Cranston, moving
a few steps away from where a massive rock later fell from on top of the RV.
Turns out, there was a tarp on top of the RV held in place by the rock, and the rock
was dislodged by a strong gust of wind.
As show creator Vince Gilligan notes, a 40-pound rock falling 14 feet on top of Paul could
have ended his life if it wasn't for the last-minute adjustment.
"Bam, I'm like, 'what the hell?'
y'know?"
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