Die hard: Website ranks which actors and actresses have died the most onscreen
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on June 21, 2024
While there are many memes devoted to how many times Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones star Sean Bean has died onscreen, it turns out he’s not nearly as easy to kill as some other stars.
With that in mind, the website Bored Panda dug deep to see which stars shuffled off their mortal coils the most for our entertainment pleasure.
Ironically, for as tough as he is in real life, former prison inmate-turned-Machete star Danny Trejo has died more than any other actor in Hollywood history.
According to Bored Panda’s stats, Trejo is the GOAT when it comes to onscreen deaths in movies, TV, videos and video games, with 93.
For actresses, that honor goes to Shelley Winters, with an onscreen death toll total of 25.
Following Trejo at #1 is Christopher Lee, who again was pretty hard to kill IRL: A former WWII Nazi hunter, the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars prequel star passed away at 93 in 2015. Not coincidentally, his characters in both those films died. His Count Dooku was beheaded in Star Wars: Episode III, though his death scene as Saruman in LOTR was controversially cut.
Third place belongs to German actor Udo Kier, with 76 career deaths, with Terminator and Aliens star Lance Henriksen ranking fourth with 75 — yep, including in both of those classics.
Eric Roberts rounded out the top five with 70 onscreen deaths — including in 2008’s The Dark Knight.
Looking purely at top-billed stars, who die less frequently than character actors, Bruce Willis leads with 38; Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins are tied with 36; and Liam Neeson had 34 onscreen deaths.
Back to the fairer sex, Miranda Richardson and Rose McGowan tied with 23.
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