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Actors that Can't Stop Kicking the Bucket: Which Unlucky Actor Leads the Way for On-Screen Deaths?

By: Aug. 29, 2017
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RouletteOnline.net have examined film databases to find the actors and actresses that struggle to make the end of each movie. Sean Bean, a man renowned for his bad luck on-screen, rather surprisingly misses out on the top 5, but who makes the rather unfortunate cut?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Star of films like Monster (2003) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), South-African actress Charlize Theron isn't a name you usually associate with death in film. However, her rate of mortality is not only the highest of all females but also the biggest ratio of 25 out of 52 acting credits (48%). One of Theron's most bizarre endings was in Reindeer Games (2000) where Ben Affleck jumps out of a flaming car, which then hits Theron off of a cliff.

Battle of the Baddies - Both the late Christopher Lee and horror-specialist Bela Lugosi were prolific actors that were often type-cast in rather villainous roles with each playing Count Dracula at some point in their illustrious careers. With 96 on-screen deaths combined, the pair cement their places (Lee - 1st, Lugosi - 3rd) in the all-time list. Lugosi was noted for the spectacular nature of his character's deaths, which include being thrown into a pit of molten sulphur in Son of Frankenstein (1939).

Unfortunate Events - Some of the strangest demises for the characters featured in our list are weird and wonderful. Horror-specialist Vincent Price drowns in a vat of wine in Tower of London (1939), John Hurt is killed by a slap from Uma Thurman's characters oversized thumb in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993). In the rather aptly named Black Death (2010), Sean Bean adds to his collection of fatalities when pulled apart by two horses.

In the top 15 list, the actors have a combined count of over 400 deaths spanning with their weird and wonderful endings spanning nearly 90 years of filmmaking. In his autobiography, the late Christopher Lee said 'I could die for you in every way known to man, and in a few ways only known to scriptwriters' which is a quote that rings true for many of these actors and actresses. From the heart-wrenching to the spectacular, fictional deaths provide fans with the sort of drama that a love-story or a happy ending never could.

Methodology: The collection of data was relatively straightforward, with amount of film credits found on imdb.com and on-screen deaths on an online index called cinemorgue.wikia.com. RouletteOnline.net then arranged the actors by number of deaths, adding a ratio of how frequently they were killed off in their films.

Conclusion

The infographic is a light-hearted overview of the on-screen deaths of some of our favourite actor and actresses. RouletteOnline.net's research also entails an overview of some the most-notable performances of the entries throughout their respective careers.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride



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