“Dead he is not, but departed, for the artist never dies.”
There are no better words to describe the fate of so many beloved actors who died while filming a new movie, but this quote belongs to poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Many legends cut down in their prime, some killed by stupid accidents on set, others losing the battle with the demons in their heads, and deciding to end it all.
One cannot but wonder what other great movies these actors might have made in the future they were robbed of.
Let’s look at some of the greatest names in the cinema industry who died before their time.
10 /10 Heath Ledger
Can you imagine it’s been 12 years since the sudden death of Heath Ledger? The actor died of a drug overdose in 2008, aged 29, right after filming The Dark Knight.
He was not around to see the world acclaiming his performance in the movie, but to this day, he is remembered as one of the best Jokers ever. Unfortunately, he did not have the force to hold on and finish what was to be another great movie, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.
9 /10 Philip Seymour Hoffman
Another legendary actor lost to drugs. Hoffman died in 2014 following a heroin overdose. He was 46 years old, and he had yet to wrap up filming for a franchise that defined a generation, The Hunger Games.
Hoffman, who won an Oscar in 2006 for his performance in Capote, was filming for the second installment of the Hunger Games trilogy and had to be edited out of the third movie, much to his fans’ sadness.
8 /10 Bruce Lee
In 1973, the martial arts superstar was busy filming for The Game of Death, a movie he never had the chance to finish. While on a break from the set, Brandon Lee also did the dubbing for his previous film, Enter the Dragon.
On May 10, he collapsed in the studio and was diagnosed with cerebral edema. The man who was unbreakable on the screen died two months later, aged 32.
7 /10 Brandon Lee
Brandon Lee followed in his famous father, Bruce Lee, being both a martial arts expert and an actor. He was one of the most talented actors of his generation, but he died even younger than his father.
Brandon Lee died aged 28 following a stupid accident while filming a shooting scene. A dummy bullet got lodged in a gun that was supposed to fire blanks and hit Lee in the abdomen.
The tragedy happened while Brandon Lee was filming what was to become a cult movie, The Crow, and his performance is spectacular.