Seven Bizarre TV and Film Set Deaths

Martha Mansfield

Martha Mansfield was a an actress in silent films. In 1923 she was on the set of the Civil War film The Warrens of Virginia when a fellow cast member flicked away a lit cigarette and it hit Mansfield’s elaborate costume of hoopskirts and flimsy ruffles causing it to burst into flames. Cast members tried desperately to put out the fire and leading man Wilfred Lytell saved Mansfield’s face from being burned by throwing his heavy overcoat over her but Mansfield suffered severe burns on the rest of her body and died shortly after in the hospital.

Boris Sagal

Image via Wikipedia (Timberline Lodge where Sagal was nearly decapitated)

Boris Sagal was a television and film director best known for directing the cult film The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston. In 1981 while directing the made-for-TV movie World War III that aired on NBC, Sagal was killed and nearly decapitated after walking into the tail rotor blades of a helicopter in the parking lot of the Timberline Lodge in Oregon (the Timberline Lodge is where exterior shots were filmed for the Jack Nicholson film The Shining). In another strange twist of fate, Sagal was the director of the pilot episode of the TV series Combat!. Combat! starred Vic Morrow who was also killed by a helicopter blade while filming Twilight Zone: The Movie (see below). Boris Sagal had also directed a number of The Twilight Zone TV episodes.

Image via Wikipedia

Boris Sagal was the father of Katey Sagal who starred in the Fox TV series Married With Children for 11 seasons.

Vic Morrow

In 1982 while working on the set of the film Twilight Zone: The Movie, Vic Morrow was decapitated by a helicopter blade while shooting a scene. Two child actors also died in the accident. The accident was the result of pyrotechnic explosions causing the low flying helicopter pilot to lose control of the bird and it crashed on top of Morrow and the two children. Morrow is the father of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh who starred in one of my all time favorite movies, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

John Ritter

Ritter is best known for playing Jack Tripper in the TV Sitcom Three’s Company. He was born into show business as his mother was actress Dorothy Fay and his father was country singer and actor Tex Ritter. In 2003 while filming an episode of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, Ritter suffered an aortic dissection which is a tear in the wall of the aorta that causes blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and force the layers apart causing massive and rapid blood loss if not detected early. He was rushed to the hospital but died soon after.