TV ACTORS WHO DIED DURING PRODUCTION

[onairb]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Dan Blocker ("Hoss" on Bonanza).

Also coming to mind (although I'm not sure "Perry Mason" was still actually in production) was William Tallman (DA Hamilton Burger) who was in the series The Invaders when he died.

'Perry Mason' ended in 1966; Talman, of course, was actually kicked off the show briefly in the early '60s(he attended a party in Hollywood, 'bustd' by police, at which many patygoers smoked marijuana, and was fired for violating the 'morals clause' in his contract; he was eventually re-hired).
I was not aware he was involved with 'The Invaders'; he(like Yul Brynnner would do in '85) recorded an anti-smoking PSA just before his death, which was withhheld from air until after he'd passed on.

 

[easttxtv]

Another World:
Douglass Watson (1989)
Constance Ford (1993)
Brent Collins (1988)
Hugh Marlowe (1982)
Paul Stevens (1986)

Days of Our Lives:
MacDonald Carey (1994)
Frances Reid (2010)
Brenda Benet (1982)

Guiding Light:
Charita Bauer (1985)
Mary Stuart (2002)

All My Children:
Ruth Warrick (2005)
Eileen Herlie (2008)

 

[cwf1701]

Jerry Orbach (Law & Order: Trial By Jury). He was going to carry on his role of Lennie Briscoe from the Original Law & order series at the time he died.

 

[bpatrick]

Helen Wagner, who had played Nancy Hughes on "As The World
Turns" from its beginning in 1956, died in the spring of 2010, just
a few months before the show's last episode.

 

[Gregg]

Getting back to panalist Dorothy Kilgallen's passing during the long run of What's My Line?... She died after consuming alcohol and sleeping pills. Many thought this was way out of character for her. She was a successful columnist and was working on a book about the connections between The Mafia and the Kennedy Assassination.

She was the only reporter to have interviewed Jack Ruby after he had shot Lee Harvey Oswald, who was being held for the killing of Pres. Kennedy. Ruby, who had mob connections, running a strip club in Dallas, died of cancer before he could tell anyone why he had silenced Oswald, who had claimed he wasn't the assassin. Ruby never stood trial.

After her death in 1965, there was speculation that her death wasn't accidental. Perhaps a mob hit man had forced her to take pills and booze together, making it appear she was either careless or suicidal, but dead none the less, never to write her book. Considering all the oddities concerning The Kennedy Assassination, Oswald and Ruby's deaths and the deaths of others involved in the story, maybe there is something to this speculation about Kilgallen.



Gregg
[email protected]

 

[landtuna]

Ruby, who had mob connections, running a strip club in Dallas, died of cancer before he could tell anyone why he had silenced Oswald, who had claimed he wasn't the assassin. Ruby never stood trial.

Ruby killed Oswald November 24 1963. Ruby himself died of cancer January 3, 1967 - more than three years later and with plenty of time to tell his story if he wished to do so.








[/quote]

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Ruby never stood trial.

Ruby did stand trial in 1964 in Dallas, was convicted of Killing Oswald and was sentenced to death. The conviction was later overturned and Ruby died in January, 1967 before another trial could take place.

 

[Hal Erickson]

Posted on wrong subject.

 

[wbhist]

Getting back to panalist Dorothy Kilgallen's passing during the long run of What's My Line?... She died after consuming alcohol and sleeping pills. Many thought this was way out of character for her. She was a successful columnist and was working on a book about the connections between The Mafia and the Kennedy Assassination.. . . After her death in 1965, there was speculation that her death wasn't accidental. Perhaps a mob hit man had forced her to take pills and booze together, making it appear she was either careless or suicidal, but dead none the less, never to write her book. Considering all the oddities concerning The Kennedy Assassination, Oswald and Ruby's deaths and the deaths of others involved in the story, maybe there is something to this speculation about Kilgallen.

There's only one problem with all the speculation of Ms. Kilgallen's death: She had had problems with drugs and alcohol in prior years, to the point where on at least two occasions (in early 1961 and again in 1963), she had prolonged absences where she was undergoing treatment for what could today be euphemistically referred to as "substance abuse." Not to mention all the other times she did sit on the panel where her on-air conduct was very much affected by either the bottle, the pills, or both. Much like Whitney Houston in our own time, it would appear that Ms. Kilgallen's system finally gave out from her on-off battles with drug and alcohol addiction - and she was not exactly in the best of health in her final years. This may well have happened even if she hadn't gotten involved in any investigations into the JFK assassination.

But in terms of others who died during production of TV shows they were actively involved in at the time - how about Tim Russert on Meet the Press (or was this already brought up?).

And as for Perry Mason, there actually was one cast member who died while it was still on: Ray Collins (a.k.a. Lt. Tragg), in 1965.

 

[Hal Erickson]

Ray Collins had all but retired from MASON by 1964, though he still received billing in the opening credits.
Another in-production death was Larry Keating (1963) during his tenure on MISTER ED. Leon Ames replaced him as Wilbur's next-door neighbor for the final two seasons.
And how about Dick Powell and Walt Disney, who died while the anthology series bearing their names in the credits were still running? The Powell show had guest hosts until the end of its second and final season. Disney's series likewise tried the guest-host route until it was decided at the beginning of the 1966-67 season to dispense with a host altogether.

 

[cd637299]

Ray Collins had all but retired from MASON by 1964, though he still received billing in the opening credits.
Another in-production death was Larry Keating (1963) during his tenure on MISTER ED. Leon Ames replaced him as Wilbur's next-door neighbor for the final two seasons.
And how about Dick Powell and Walt Disney, who died while the anthology series bearing their names in the credits were still running? The Powell show had guest hosts until the end of its second and final season. Disney's series likewise tried the guest-host route until it was decided at the beginning of the 1966-67 season to dispense with a host altogether.

WPTV 5 in West Palm Beach had hour-long Dick Powell reruns as part of their "Dialing for Dollars," in the late 60s, but they promoted them as "movies"---well IIRC they certainly did not call it the Dick Powell Theatre, and I don't recall the opening ever shown. Their DfD airtime may have been only 1 hour.

It's been over 40 years, but I enjoyed the episode called "Everybody Loves Sweeney" with Mickey Rooney I think.

cd

 

[BlueWanderer]

During the filming of third season "Sliders" episode entitled "Desert Storm", Ken Steadman died due to injuries suffered from a dune buggy accident. He wasn't part of the regular main cast, but he did get one of those "Dedicated to..." or "In Memory of..." credit at the end. It was kind of eerie to see that at the time.

The original voice-over actor for the John Redcorn character on the animated series "King of the Hill" had to be replaced in the second season. Victor Aaron died in a road accident in 1996 before the show had premiered on FOX a few months later. The episode entitled "The Order of the Straight Arrow" where his voice appears in was dedicated to his memory. Jonathan Joss took over the John Redcorn role from season two to the end of the show's run.

 

[Ultimajock]

Bill Cullen replaced Jack Barry
as host of "The Joker's Wild" following Barry's death in 1984.

...Cullen was the replacement the following season; IIRC, Jim Peck taped several installments that remained of the 1984-85 season between Barry's death and Cullen's coming onboard...

 

[Ultimajock]

...Rod Serling had taped introductions to the 1975 Summer replacement sketch comedy series Keep On Truckin', which premiered on ABC that July 12th. However, Serling died of a heart attack during open-heart surgery on June 28th, and his pieces were removed from the programs before ABC ran them...

 

[WMC2006]

Well if you are counting game show hosts as actors, how about game show announcers:

-The Price Is Right lost Johnny Olsen and Rod Roddy
-Wheel of Fortune lost Jack Clark and Charlie O'Donnell


I'm sure there are many more.

 

[bpatrick]

Bill Cullen replaced Jack Barry
as host of "The Joker's Wild" following Barry's death in 1984.

...Cullen was the replacement the following season; IIRC, Jim Peck taped several installments that remained of the 1984-85 season between Barry's death and Cullen's coming onboard...

IIRC, Peck was Barry's choice to replace him as host; I think Barry was about ready to give up hosting, and Peck had subbed for him a few times. After Barry's death his partner, Dan Enright, decided to go with a more established host and picked Cullen. It wasn't a good fit, since Cullen was required to move around more than he was able to (joining the winning contestant at the "face the devil" board, as well as going into the audience to play that game with an audience member).

As it turned out, it was Cullen's last hosting job before his death in 1990.

 

[Mark Giardina]

This might be a stretch but Bill Bixby died of cancer while directing Blossom. Of course we remember Bill from his many TV roles.

Jerry Orbach- Law & Order

Question: Wasn't the Adventures of Superman starting production when George Reeves died in 1959?

 

[RadioDaze]

Lynne Thigpen on "The District".

 

[Ultimajock]

...Don Hornsby was supposed to host Broadway Open House upon its premiere on 29 May 1950; allegedly, he got his NBC contract on direct recommendations to network programmer Pat Weaver from Fred Allen (Weaver had produced Allen's Town Hall Tonight Red Network radio show in the 1930s) and Bob Hope. However, Hornsby contracted polio and died seven days before the premiere, and NBC pulled Morey Amsterdam and Jerry Lester into the host positions for split weeks. Amsterdam soon left the Monday and Wednesday broadcasts, leaving Lester to do the show on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for the rest of the series' 14-month run...

 

[KyDXIn]

Speaking of polio, Bill Cullen had it as a child and the effects limited his mobility for the rest of his life.