Movies - TV
Horror Actors Who Passed Away After Filming Movies
By JENN ADAMS
The Exorcist
“The Exorcist” is arguably the most famous horror movie, and it also has one of the most famous curses. The film is associated with nine deaths in total, but the first two occurred right after the other; Jack McGowan who plays director Burke Dennings and Vasiliki Maliaros who plays the mother of Father Karras died just ten days apart from each other.
3 From Hell
Stephen King’s Pennywise might be the most famous murderous clown, but Sid Haig’s Captain Spaulding from Rob Zombie’s Firefly Trilogy is arguably more terrifying. When it came time to film the third installment, “3 From Hell,” ill health caused Zombie to reduce Haig’s role; Haig made it through filming, but he died just five days after the movie premiered.
Queen of the Damned
Pop star and R&B sensation Aaliyah had just begun acting before her untimely death in a plane crash. Before her death, she completed her sophomore movie “Queen of the Damned," based on Anne Rice’s third installment in her Vampire Chronicles novel series, and her final performance is magnetic, giving the movie a cult-like status.
Plan 9 From Outer Space
You might recognize Bela Lugosi for his performance as Count Dracula, but the horror icon’s final appearance would be in “Plan 9 From Outer Space” — apparently the worst movie ever made. Lugosi died three years before the film was made, and his performance is cobbled together from stolen footage shot for another film, “The Vampire’s Tomb.”
Halloween
Michael Meyers and Laurie Strode probably jump to mind when thinking of John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” but Dr. Sam Loomis is just as important. As the doctor trying to keep his patient from killing again, Loomis is a fan-favorite, appearing in many “Halloween” films, but the actor Donald Pleasance died just a few months before his final appearance premiered.