Published April 24, 2009 | 
Movie Stars Who Die the Most. Not an article for people who hate spoilers, because it lists the movies in which characters die.
Also, the list includes only male actors currently working. No actresses at all, which is a real pity. And no Bogart, Cagney, Peter Lorre….
Nor does it include Sean Bean, who apparently has a clause in all his contracts that would force the studios to quadruple his pay should be survive to the end credits.
Or Samuel L. Jackson, who is both a great actor and a star, and who dies a lot.
So maybe it includes only male actors currently working who have a movie coming out soon enough that they’re on the list to be mentioned in Premiere. A title too long to fit the marquee.
Also, I myself would have included the great bit of trivia that John Wayne died in only one of his films — the last.
So what actresses have died the most often on film? What are the greatest death scenes in film history? What movies have more than one great death scene?
For the last category, I’d say that Repo Man has at least three great (and hilarious) death scenes:
- “People just explode.”
- “I blame society.”
- “I showed them — I had a lobotomy.”
Apparently bio-pics including an epilogue referring to the fact that the person eventually died count as dying in the movie for these statistics.
I really liked the way “This is Spinal Tap” handled the issue.
And what about Anthony Perkins? Was there ever a movie he was in where he didn’t die?
There are a few in there I WISH were no longer a part of this earthly plane..
I learned two things from this article. One, I don’t watch many movies because I have seen almost none of the ones they are referencing. Two, god I want to fuck Christian Bale.
Edited cause I can’t have my kids face on a post where I mention fucking.
Silence of the Lambs?
I believe you’re thinking of Anthony Hopkins.
You’re absolutely right. I apparently didn’t know who Anthony Perkins was. Which is par for the course with me and movie actors :-)
He was the hotelkeeper in Psycho.
this list is very weak
Danny Trejo has died in every film he’s appeared in. EVERY ONE. Robert DeNiro’s 14 deaths? PAH – Danny’s bitten the dust 27 times.
Didn’t Robert Downey Jr. die (from natural causes) in Zodiac? or am I misremembering?
And including Christian Bale’s death in Henry V … wow. He was a very very bit player in that movie — he played “boy.” (I happen to know which boy, and how he died, but still…)
Also, I don’t think anyone would bother to do a “Kill” list. Has anyone of these actors *not* killed a character at some point in some movie? Even actors that play only good guys?
Answering my own question….
Looking over the list again, I don’t think Dustin Hoffman has ever killed anyone onscreen.
For my money, the greatest murder scene in all movies is the baptism scene in The Godfather. (For those who haven’t seen the movie, the murder is not at a baptism.) I can see it over and over again and even though I *know* what’s coming, it still takes my breath away.
Re: Answering my own question….
What about Straw Dogs? One of the few Hoffman movies I haven’t seen, so the answer may be no.
ETA OK, Hoffman’s a killer, according to Wikipedia.
That’s a brilliant piece of filmmaking — one of the finest sequences ever, equal to the Odessa Steps sequence from the “Battleship Potemkin.”
Hmm, that’s not exactly Sean Penn being assassinated in “Milk.”
*sporfle* Umm, yeah. Man, it’s dangerous to be a drummer.
I thought I was the only one with a thing for Spader.
Are you kidding?! Doesn’t everyone have a thing for Spader? :D
Not the film I had in mind.
Yes, and you named it.
Anthony Perkins did not die in Psycho or Murder on the Orient Express. Just sayin’.
Robert Downey Jr.’s character in Zodiac died of cancer or heart disease. Can’t remember which.