• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

TV ACTORS WHO DIED DURING PRODUCTION

Some more

Meet The Press
Tim Russert

Cagney and Lacey
Sidney Clute

Today Show
Frank McGee

NBC News
David Bloom

Life With Louie - cartoon
Mary Wickes

Rugrats - cartoon
David Doyle

South Park - controversial cartoon
Mary Kay Bergman (same situation as Benjamin Hendrickson, Pete Duel, Brenda Benet, and Freddie Prinze)

Perry Mason - NBC TV movies only
Raymond Burr

Wheel of Fortune
Jack Clark (announcer from 1980-1988)

The Price is Right
Johnny Olsen
Rod Roddy (both announcers)
 
How about Joe Flynn? He died while "It Pays To Be Ignorant" was in production. I remember the announcement of his death just before WNAC-TV channel 7 in Boston aired a Merv Griffin show episode with him as one of the guests. :(
 
anotherguy said:
From Hee Haw:
Grady Nutt
Click to expand...
Grady Nutt had made a pilot for NBC called the "Grady Nutt Show" that NBC gave the go ahead to start production of the show, but he was killed in a plane crash before production was able to begin on the series.
 
jfrancispastirchak said:
anotherguy said:
From Hee Haw:
Stringbean
Junior Samples
Grady Nutt
Possibly Archie Campbell?
Click to expand...
As I recall, Archie Campbell died a few years after his exit from Hee Haw. Other active Hee Haw alumni worth remembering: Kenny Price and Slim Pickins.
Click to expand...
Archie Campbell was still a cast member of Hee Haw at the time of death.
 
I don't know if this counts but what about Vic Morrow (who played Sgt. Saunders on Combat) who, along with two children, were killed during the production of the Twilight Zone movie.
 
blackgold said:
How about Joe Flynn? He died while "It Pays To Be Ignorant" was in production. I remember the announcement of his death just before WNAC-TV channel 7 in Boston aired a Merv Griffin show episode with him as one of the guests. :(
Click to expand...
Most would remember Flynn from his role as Captain Binghamton on McHale's Navy, though he forged a wealthy portfolio for numerous TV roles. His character on the Joey Bishop Show was cancelled. Insiders said Flynn's presence was so powerful that he often upstaged Bishop.
 
TODAY they aired the Dennis The Menace episode mentioned in the thread start on Antenna TV.
Mr. Wilson was doing a lot of physical comedy (much more than he usually does). At one point he
jumps through a small basement window and lands on the floor on his stomach. If you consider
that each scene was probably filmed at least 3 times, he was getting a workout that day.

No doubt if you're about to have a heart attack, such activity could bring it on even faster. I'd say
the show was somewhat at fault and may have triggered his death.
 
I'm not a doctor (at least not an M.D.) so I can't say what
might or might not have triggered Joe Kearns' heart attack.
I can say that, despite his looks, he died rather young, at
age 55 (that's younger than I am right now).

And in one of the editions of "The Encyclopedia Of TV Game
Shows" there's a picture of Joe Flynn on "It Pays To Be Ignorant"
with his panel of Charles Nelson Reilly, Jo Anne Worley, and Billy Baxter.
Flynn does not look well; he looks completely swollen above the neck.
Does anyone know what the cause of death was in his case?
 
bpatrick said:
And in one of the editions of "The Encyclopedia Of TV Game
Shows" there's a picture of Joe Flynn on "It Pays To Be Ignorant"
with his panel of Charles Nelson Reilly, Jo Anne Worley, and Billy Baxter.
Flynn does not look well; he looks completely swollen above the neck.
Does anyone know what the cause of death was in his case?
Click to expand...

According to imdb, Flynn died of a heart attack in his swimming pool at age 49.
He had broken his leg, and was wearing a cast. Due to the weight of the cast, he had sunk to the bottom of the pool, where he was found.
 
gregg75 said:
TODAY they aired the Dennis The Menace episode mentioned in the thread start on Antenna TV. Mr. Wilson was doing a lot of physical comedy (much more than he usually does). At one point he jumps through a small basement window and lands on the floor on his stomach. If you consider that each scene was probably filmed at least 3 times, he was getting a workout that day. No doubt if you're about to have a heart attack, such activity could bring it on even faster. I'd saythe show was somewhat at fault and may have triggered his death.
Click to expand...
But don't you think doubles would have stepped in for such physical scenes?
 
The window scene appeared to be one clear scene with his face in the shot at all time. I'm not
sure he would even have a double because he never did much more than walk and talk.
 
Lkeller said:
bpatrick said:
And in one of the editions of "The Encyclopedia Of TV Game
Shows" there's a picture of Joe Flynn on "It Pays To Be Ignorant"
with his panel of Charles Nelson Reilly, Jo Anne Worley, and Billy Baxter.
Flynn does not look well; he looks completely swollen above the neck.
Does anyone know what the cause of death was in his case?
Click to expand...

According to imdb, Flynn died of a heart attack in his swimming pool at age 49.
He had broken his leg, and was wearing a cast. Due to the weight of the cast, he had sunk to the bottom of the pool, where he was found.
Click to expand...
Here is a clip from a "Match Game 74" show where he speaks of his 12 movies for Disney.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss1iQuOpHdQ&feature=related
 
Getting off topic: On that clip, Gene Rayburn is the 'host' of Match Game. Saw another clip from the same season where Gene is the 'star' of Match Game. And he didn't kiss Linda, the new panelist. At some point, Gene started kissing the new female panelists to welcome them aboard. And Gene is using a short microphone here. When did he start using the long mike?

That is all, back to topic. ;D
 
KyDXIn said:
Lkeller said:
bpatrick said:
And in one of the editions of "The Encyclopedia Of TV Game
Shows" there's a picture of Joe Flynn on "It Pays To Be Ignorant"
with his panel of Charles Nelson Reilly, Jo Anne Worley, and Billy Baxter.
Flynn does not look well; he looks completely swollen above the neck.
Does anyone know what the cause of death was in his case?
Click to expand...

According to imdb, Flynn died of a heart attack in his swimming pool at age 49.
He had broken his leg, and was wearing a cast. Due to the weight of the cast, he had sunk to the bottom of the pool, where he was found.
Click to expand...
Here is a clip from a "Match Game 74" show where he speaks of his 12 movies for Disney.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss1iQuOpHdQ&feature=related
Click to expand...

Cute clip. Flynn died in 74, but there's no way to know how long before his death the Match Game appearance took place. He doesn't look that bad to me - more like 55 years old than 49 - but if he was carrying an extra 20 or 30 pounds, his neck should look like that. I was about 30 lbs overweight in my 30s and my collar size increased about 2 inches. I wasn't "swollen," it was just fat.
 
I could do some research but instead I will ask; didn't Andy Clyde, the noted character actor, die while working on the TV series "The Real McCoys"?

This may not count as part the about mentioned subject, but didn't John Hamilton, who played Perry White, die shortly before production of the "Adventures of Superman" was suppose to air in 1960?
I believe that the producers of the show asked the actor who played White in the 1940 movie serials to recreate his role as Perry White after Hamilton died.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom