When Acting Became Dangerous
Movies and television can make danger look effortless. Sometimes it was anything but. These performers suffered everything from burns and broken bones to spinal injuries and near-fatal accidents while working. Some recovered quickly. Others lived with the consequences for decades, and several never returned home from the set.
Screenshot of Ellen Burstyn in 'The Exorcist' (1973), Warner Bros (enhanced)
Buster Keaton
While making Sherlock Jr. (1924), Keaton grabbed a waterspout and was blasted onto a railroad track, striking his neck against a steel rail. He continued working despite severe headaches. More than a decade later, an X-ray revealed that the famously fearless comedian had actually fractured a vertebra in his neck.
Screenshot from Sherlock Jr., Metro-Goldwyn Pictures (1924)
Buddy Ebsen
Ebsen was originally the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (1939), alongside Judy Garland and Ray Bolger. Aluminum powder in his makeup coated his lungs, leaving him critically ill and hospitalized. MGM replaced him with Jack Haley, permanently changing Ebsen's place in one of Hollywood's most famous movies.
Margaret Hamilton
Ebsen wasn't the only The Wizard of Oz (1939) performer badly hurt. Margaret Hamilton suffered second-degree burns to her face and a third-degree burn to her hand when a fiery Wicked Witch exit went wrong. She spent about six weeks recovering before returning to work and refused to participate in further fire effects.
Screenshot from The Wizard of Oz, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (1939)
Ricardo Montalban
While making Across the Wide Missouri (1951), starring Clark Gable, Ricardo Montalban was thrown from a horse and suffered a serious spinal injury. He endured chronic pain for decades, while a congenital spinal condition also contributed to later problems. Major surgery in 1993 ultimately left him relying on mobility aids.
Silver Screen Collection, Getty Images
Anne Bancroft
Before The Miracle Worker (1962) made her an Oscar winner, Bancroft was cast in The Last Hunt (1956), directed by Richard Brooks and starring Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger. A riding accident on an out-of-control horse left her hospitalized. She withdrew and was replaced by Debra Paget.
Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images
Christopher George
A January 1967 accident on The Rat Patrol became part of Christopher George's story forever. A jeep carrying George, Gary Raymond, and Justin Tarr overturned during filming. George suffered several injuries, including a heart contusion and vertebral damage. Later accounts linked the cardiac injury to the heart problems preceding his death in 1983.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds insisted on performing a dangerous waterfall stunt himself while filming Deliverance (1972), after deciding the dummy originally used looked unconvincing. Reynolds slammed into a rock and cracked his tailbone before being swept through the violent water below. Decades later, he said the injury still caused chronic back pain, one of several lasting consequences of performing his own stunts.
Screenshot from Deliverance, Warner Bros. Pictures (1972)
Ellen Burstyn
William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973) was physically brutal to make. During the scene in which possessed Regan throws Chris MacNeil backward, Ellen Burstyn was violently yanked by a harness. She suffered a serious back/coccyx injury and has said the accident caused lasting problems. Her genuine cry of pain remained in the film.
Screenshot from The Exorcist, Warner Bros. Pictures (1973)
Linda Blair
Burstyn wasn't alone. Twelve-year-old Linda Blair was strapped into a mechanical rig for Regan's violent bed scenes in The Exorcist (1973). During one take, Blair suffered a spinal injury. She later said the resulting back problems affected her health for years, with the injury developing into scoliosis and chronic pain.
Screenshot from The Exorcist, Warner Bros. Pictures (1973)
Sylvester Stallone
Ted Kotcheff's First Blood (1982), co-starring Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy, demanded plenty from Stallone. Performing the lower portion of Rambo's cliff-and-tree fall himself, Stallone genuinely crashed through the branches and broke a rib. His cry of pain during the stunt wasn't entirely acting.
Screenshot from First Blood, Orion Pictures (1982)
Jackie Chan
Few performers have accumulated more injuries than Jackie Chan. While making Armour of God (1986), Chan attempted a leap into a tree, but a branch broke and he plunged onto rocks. He fractured his skull and required emergency surgery. The near-fatal accident left lasting effects, including hearing loss in one ear.
Screenshot from Armour of God, Miramax (1986)
Roy Kinnear
Veteran British character actor Roy Kinnear was filming The Return of the Musketeers (1989), alongside Michael York and Oliver Reed, when he fell from a horse in Spain in 1988. Kinnear fractured his pelvis and was hospitalized, but died after suffering a heart attack associated with his injuries several days later.
Screenshot from The Return of the Musketeers, Universal Pictures (1989), Enhanced
Nicole Kidman
Moulin Rouge! (2001), directed by Baz Luhrmann, and co-starring Ewan McGregor, was punishing for Nicole Kidman. She cracked ribs and suffered torn knee cartilage during production, while another fall badly injured her ankle. One rib was injured again when Kidman was tightly laced into Satine's corset.
Screenshot from Moulin Rouge!, 20th Century Fox (2001)
Halle Berry
While filming Gothika (2003), Halle Berry suffered a broken arm during a physical scene with co-star Robert Downey Jr. Berry later described it as a freak accident in which her arm became twisted. Production was interrupted while its Oscar-winning star recovered. Penélope Cruz and Bernard Hill also co-starred for director Mathieu Kassovitz.
Screenshot from Gothika, Warner Bros. Pictures (2003)
Jim Caviezel
Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004) put Jim Caviezel through an extraordinary physical ordeal. During production he suffered a dislocated shoulder, hypothermia and pneumonia, and was accidentally struck while filming the scourging sequence. Caviezel was also struck by lightning while the movie was being made.
Screenshot from The Passion of the Christ, Icon Productions (2004)
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron's acrobatic action role in Æon Flux (2005) nearly had catastrophic consequences. During filming, Theron injured her neck while performing a stunt, forcing production to shut down while she recovered. The injury required extensive treatment and became one of the most serious physical setbacks of her career.
Screenshot from Æon Flux, Paramount Pictures (2005)
George Clooney
George Clooney suffered a serious spinal injury while filming Syriana (2005), directed by Stephen Gaghan, and co-starring Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, and Christopher Plummer. A tear in the membrane surrounding his spinal cord caused debilitating headaches and pain. Clooney later underwent surgery but said the consequences continued long after filming ended.
Screenshot from Syriana, Warner Bros. Pictures (2005)
Harrison Ford
While making Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Harrison Ford was crushed by a heavy hydraulic door on the Millennium Falcon set. The then-71-year-old actor fractured both bones in his left leg and dislocated his ankle, forcing production to reorganize filming while he recovered.
Screenshot from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Walt Disney Company (2015)
Daniel Craig
James Bond's toughness came at a price for Daniel Craig. During production of Spectre (2015), Craig injured his knee while filming action sequences. He eventually underwent arthroscopic surgery during a scheduled production break before returning to work alongside co-stars Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, and Naomie Harris and director Sam Mendes.
Screenshot from Spectre, Columbia Pictures (2015)
Dylan O'Brien
Dylan O'Brien suffered frightening injuries while making Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018). A March 2016 stunt involving a vehicle went badly wrong, leaving the young star hospitalized with serious injuries. Production shut down for months and ultimately didn't resume until the following year, substantially delaying the movie.
Screenshot from Maze Runner: The Death Cure, 20th Century Fox (2018)
Tom Cruise
Even Tom Cruise eventually found a stunt that stopped production. While filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Cruise leaped between buildings in London and smashed into a wall, breaking his ankle. The shot was used in the movie, but production shut down while its famously hands-on star recovered.
Screenshot from Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Paramount Pictures (2018)
Ruby Rose
While performing stunts for Batwoman, Ruby Rose suffered serious neck injuries involving two herniated discs. Rose said the damage came close to severing her spinal cord and required emergency surgery because she risked paralysis. She subsequently left the series after its first season, although several factors were publicly discussed regarding her departure.
Screenshot from Batwoman, The CW (2019–2022)
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