Cats Falck, a Swedish TV reporter and her friend died in a car that fell into the water in a suburb of Stockholm. It was later found that this was a murder committed by Stasi, East German Secret police.
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Jon-Erik Hexum (5 November 1957 – 18 October 1984) was an American actor and model.
Hexum is most famous not because of any of his roles but rather the bizarre nature of his death. Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun loaded with blanks on the set of the CBS series Cover Up, a program about a pair of fashion photographers/models who were actually secret agents. Hexum, who played a weapons expert, was said to constantly be playing with the guns as if they were toys and once angered Jennifer O'Neill so much that she chastised him on-set for his carelessness.
On October 12, 1984, after finishing a scene in which he fired several blank rounds from a .44 Magnum revolver, Hexum jokingly put the gun up to his temple and sarcastically said,
"Let's see if I've got one for me."
Hexum apparently did not realize that blanks use paper or plastic wadding to seal gun powder into the shell, and that this wadding is propelled out of the barrel of the gun with enough force to cause severe injury or death if the weapon is fired at point-blank range. Although the paper wadding in the blank that Hexum discharged did not penetrate his head[2], it struck him in the temple with enough force to propel a quarter-sized piece of his skull into his brain.
According to a crew member on the set: "Jon smiled and pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang and a bright flash, then black smoke. Jon screamed in agony, then looked kind of amazed as he slumped back onto the bed with blood streaming from a severe head wound. It was horrible."
Hexum's assistant ran to him and wrapped his head in a towel. An ambulance was called, but before it could arrive, Hexum slipped into a coma, prompting crew members to carry him to one of the studio's station wagons and drive him to Beverly Hills Medical Center. Hexum went into surgery as his family and girlfriend, actress Elizabeth Daily, were notified of his condition. Initially he was listed as being in "serious" condition, but after five hours of surgery, doctors changed the condition to "critical." Hexum was given a feeding tube and respirator, and lingered for six days before doctors pronounced him brain dead. With his mother's permission, Hexum was flown to Las Vegas and taken off life support so that his organs could be donated.
Following his death, Hexum was dissected, his heart being given to a dying escort service owner. His eyes were also removed, although there is dispute as to whether they were given to a little girl, or a 66 year old man suffering from cataracts. Hexum's body was then flown back to California, where it was cremated.
The same month that Hexum died, an issue of Playgirl magazine came out, featuring a photo shoot that Hexum had done shortly before his demise.
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Karel Soucek, born in Czechoslovakia, died January 20, 1985 in Houston, Texas, was a Canadian professional stuntperson. He lived in Hamilton, Ontario.
On July 3, 1984, his bright, red, nine-foot barrel bearing the words, "The Last of Niagara's Daredevils". was rolled into the Niagara river 1000 feet above the cataract. In seconds, it was swept over the brink. Shortly after, Soucek emerged safe but bleeding. Soucek was fined $500 for performing the stunt without a license.
Having tasted success, he decided to build a museum at Niagara Falls, Ontario in which to display his stunting paraphernalia. He convinced a corporation to finance a barrel drop of 180 feet from the top of the Houston Astrodome into a tank of water to pay for his project.
Before the drop, a reporter asked if he believed in an after life. He replied, "There is no heaven or hell; there is no God. It's all a myth. You're born, you live, one day you die and that's it."
On January 19, 1985, as Soucek was enclosed in his barrel, 180 feet above the floor of the Astrodome, the barrel was released prematurely. Unexpectedly, it began spinning as it fell toward the floor. Instead of landing in the center of the tank of water, his barrel hit the rim. Soucek, severely injured, died the next day. Evel Knievel, the well-known stuntperson, called it the most dangerous stunt he had ever seen and said he had tried to persuade Soucek to cancel it, to no avail.
He is buried at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada cemetery.
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Jane Dornacker (October 1, 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico – October 22, 1986 in New York) was an American rock musician, actress, and comedian turned traffic reporter for WNBC 66 AM (later WFAN 66). She was married to Bob Knickerbocker.
On October 22, 1986, at 4:44 PM, while Dornacker was giving one of the station's N-Copter traffic reports, the helicopter plunged from an altitude of roughly 75 feet into the Hudson River. On her final radio broadcast she was giving a report of a tractor trailer and a car getting into an accident and a car fire. She also stated that the outbound Holland Tunnel was heavy with traffic and that the Lincoln Tunnel was much better with traffic and a car fire. Dornacker was starting her report for incoming New Jersey traffic when the helicopter stalled in mid broadcast.
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Richard Schulefand (December 1, 1923-April 17, 1987), an American actor and comedian known professionally as Dick Shawn, was born in Buffalo, New York.
He is best remembered for his roles as Sylvester Marcus, the bohemian but Oedipal beach-bum son of Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman), in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and as Lorenzo St. DuBois (known by his initials L.S.D.), the flower power hippie who lands the role of Adolf Hitler in the musical Springtime for Hitler, the play within the movie, The Producers.
He had continued success with one-man stage shows. He died onstage on April 17, 1987, during a monologue about the Holocaust in San Diego, California, at the age of 63, and is survived by his wife and 4 children. Due to the nature of his act, audience members were at first unaware that he had suffered a massive heart attack and had died.
During his final act, Shawn had been carrying on like he was a politician, saying various campaign cliches, including, "if elected, I will not lay down on the job." He then lay face-down on the stage. And just kept lying there. At one point, he snorted. The audience, meanwhile, thought this was part of his act. After some time had gone by, there were catcalls. Finally, someone appeared on stage, kneeled down to look at Shawn, stood up, and called out, "is there a doctor in the house?" Another person came up on stage, turned Shawn over, and began administering CPR. At this point, someone (the first person to come on stage?) told the audience to go home. Nobody (or almost nobody) moved--since no one knew if this was part of Shawn's act. Finally, paramedics arrived, and the bewildered audience began leaving, still not sure of what they had seen. A notice in the following day's San Diego Union newspaper (not on page 1) clarified that Shawn had, indeed, had a heart attack on stage and had died.
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Robert Budd Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987), better known as R. Budd Dwyer, was an American politician born in St. Charles, Missouri. Dwyer is best known for his televised suicide.
On January 22, 1987, the day before his sentencing, Dwyer called a press conference to "provide an update on the situation." Many expected Dwyer to announce his resignation from office.
At the conference, an agitated and nervous Dwyer once again professed his innocence, and declared that he would not resign as state treasurer. Those attending would hear his final words:
"I thank the good Lord for giving me 47 years of exciting challenges, stimulating experiences, many happy occasions, and, most of all, the finest wife and children any man could ever desire.
Now my life has changed, for no apparent reason. People who call and write are exasperated and feel helpless. They know I'm innocent and want to help. But in this nation, the world's greatest democracy, there is nothing they can do to prevent me from being punished for a crime they know I did not commit. Some who have called have said that I am a modern day Job.
Judge Muir is also noted for his medieval sentences. I face a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison and a $300,000 fine for being innocent. Judge Muir has already told the press that he, quote, "felt invigorated" when we were found guilty, and that he plans to imprison me as a deterrent to other public officials. But it wouldn't be a deterrent because every public official who knows me knows that I am innocent — it wouldn't be a legitimate punishment because I've done nothing wrong. Since I'm a victim of political persecution, my prison would simply be an American gulag.
I ask those that believe in me to continue to extend friendship and prayer to my family, to work untiringly for the creation of a true justice system here in the United States, and to press on with the efforts to vindicate me, so that my family and their future families are not tainted by this injustice that has been perpetrated on me.
We were confident that right and truth would prevail, and I would be acquitted and we would devote the rest of our lives working to create a justice system here in the United States. The guilty verdict has strengthened that resolve. But as we've discussed our plans to expose the warts of our legal system, people have said, "why bother," "no one cares," "you'll look foolish," "60 Minutes, 20/20, the American Civil Liberties Union, Jack Anderson and others have been publicizing cases like yours for years, and it doesn't bother anyone..."
At this point Dwyer stopped with his prepared text and called to three of his staffers, giving each an envelope. One contained a suicide note to his wife, a second was an organ donor card and other related materials, and a third was a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey, who had been inaugurated just two days before.
After handing out the envelopes, Dwyer opened a fourth large manila envelope and withdrew a .357 Magnum revolver, advising those in the crowd to "Please leave the room if this will offend you." Those in attendance cried out to Dwyer, pleading with him to put the gun down. Some tried to approach him. "Stay away, this thing will hurt someone," he warned.[2] Those were his last words. Amid the cry of "Budd, Budd, Budd," Dwyer put the gun barrel into his mouth, pulled the trigger, and collapsed on the floor, blood streaming from his head and nose, in front of five television news cameras. Dwyer was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:31 am.
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In 1989 a Belgian teenager was killed by a crashing soviet MiG-23 fighter jet, which escaped from Poland on autopilot after the crew ejected over a false engine failure alarm.
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Redd Foxx (born John Elroy Sanford, December 9, 1922 - October 11, 1991) was an American comedian best known for his starring role on the television sitcom Sanford and Son. He was 3/4 African-American, and 1/4 Native American.
n 1977, Sanford and Son was cancelled and Foxx struck out on his own by starring in a short-lived variety show, but by the early 1980s he was back playing Fred Sanford in a brief revival/spin-off, Sanford. Foxx had numerous battles with the IRS that culminated in a 1989 "raid" in which agents seized his house and assets (and even some of the jewelry right off his body). Foxx appeared to be making a comeback with the 1991 series The Royal Family, in which he co-starred with his long-time friend Della Reese when a fatal heart attack felled him on the set. Ironically, one of Foxx's best-known comic bits on Sanford and Son was faking a heart attack and calling out to his deceased wife Elizabeth saying "this is the big one...I'm comin' to join ya, honey."
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Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee was a Chinese American / European American actor of Chinese, German, and Swedish descent.
On March 31, 1993, the 52nd day of a 60-day shooting schedule for The Crow, the scene being filmed was when Lee's character was to walk into his apartment and see his girlfriend being raped by thugs. This would subsequently lead to Eric being brutally killed, along with his girlfriend, by the thugs. Actor Michael Massee, who played one of the villains in the movie, was supposed to fire a gun at Lee, as he walked into his apartment with groceries.
Because the movie's second unit team were running behind schedule, it was decided that dummy cartridges — bullets that outwardly appear to be functional, but contain no gunpowder — would be made from real cartridges, which had been brought to the set, earlier in production. Bruce Merlin, an effects technician, dismantled the live cartridges by removing the bullets, emptying out the gunpowder, detonating the primer, and reinserting the bullets. This rendered the cartridges inoperative, but realistic in appearance. Merlin and his propmaster, Daniel Kuttner, took initiative to create some blanks by removing live cartridges, and replacing the gunpowder with firework powder; the bullets were not reinserted.
Later, a cartridge with only a primer and a bullet, was fired in a pistol; this caused the bullet to lodge in the forcing cone of the revolver. When the first unit used this gun to shoot the death scene, the chamber was loaded with blanks which had no bullets. However, there was still the bullet in the barrel, which was propelled out by the blank cartridge's explosion. Consequently, Lee was shot and severely wounded, as cameras were rolling at the Carolco Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. Seconds later, director Alex Proyas stopped the scene, but Lee remained on the floor. Stuntman (and Lee's friend) Jeff Imada ran over to him with a paramedic, and discovered a thin slit, an inch below to the right of his navel; by this time, Lee had slipped into unconciousness, and was rushed to the hospital where doctors discovered that a bullet was the cause of the damage. They fought for five hours in an attempt to save him, but at 1:04 PM he was pronounced dead.
His funeral was held several days later; he was buried next to his father in Lake View Cemetery, Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington. The following day, a memorial service was held in Los Angeles, California, at the home of actress Polly Bergen; over 200 people attended, including David Carradine, David Hasselhoff and Kiefer Sutherland. Jeff Imada, Lee's closest friend, and Eliza ('Lisa') Hutton, Lee's intended bride, were so shocked they couldn't speak, while his mother, Linda Emery, reminded everyone, "Brandon would want this to be a happy occasion; we are here to celebrate his life."
The footage of the incident was soon destroyed, without ever being developed.
The shooting was ruled as an accident, although many fans suspected foul play. (Bruce Lee's own death in 1973, at the age of 32, apparently from a reaction to an analgesic he had taken, was also considered suspicious.) Bruce Lee's character in Game of Death is shot in a similar fashion. His character, like that of his son in The Crow, returns ('from the dead', although the character did not actually die), to get revenge on his adversaries.
Some fans also suspected that Lee's death was all part of a curse on the Lee family, because Lee had died nearly 20 years after his father; both deaths were very mysterious; and Brandon would also die before the release of a film that would catapult him to stardom. After his death, his mother and fiancée Eliza Hutton supported director Alex Proyas' decision to complete the movie. At the time of Lee's death, only eight days were left before completion of the movie. A majority of the film had already been completed with Lee, and only a few scenes had to be done.
To complete the film, a stunt double (Chad Stahelski), who was a friend of Lee's at the famed Inosanto Academy, and special effects were used to add Lee's face onto the stunt double.
The Crow was finally released in May 1994, and became a box office smash. The film is dedicated to Lee and his fiancée Eliza Hutton. They were to have been married on April 17, 1993, in Mexico. Lee is survived by his mother and sister.
In an interview just prior to his death, Brandon quoted a passage from Paul Bowles' book The Sheltering Sky that he had chosen for his wedding invitations; it is now inscribed on his tombstone:
"Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you cannot conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless..."
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Stephen Milligan (May 12, 1948 – February 7, 1994) was a British politician and journalist.
Educated at Bradfield College, he went on to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he ascended to the presidency of the Oxford Union.
As a journalist he had worked for The Economist and the BBC, but left the trade in 1990 when he was selected as Conservative Party candidate for Eastleigh. He became its member of Parliament at the 1992 election.
The discovery of his corpse in what was an unequivocal case of auto-erotic asphyxiation combined with self-bondage and cross-dressing, led to a greater public awareness of auto-erotic asphyxiation and self-bondage and their risks. A bizarre detail of his death, which was the subject of much comment and speculation at the time, was that he was found to have had an orange segment in his mouth at the time of his death.
At the time of his death he was engaged to Julie Kirkbride, now Conservative MP for Bromsgrove.
Milligan's death significantly contributed to derailing John Major's "Back to Basics" policy initiative. Most commentators reflected that the circumstances of the MP's demise were a personal tragedy that overshadowed his achievements in life and his promising political career.
His death triggered a by-election at a time which was highly volatile for the Conservative Party and saw the election of Liberal Democrat David Chidgey.
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Yahya Ayyash (يحيى عياش; March 6, 1966 - January 5, 1996) was a member and chief bombmaker of the Hamas organization. He is credited with advancing the technique of suicide bombing in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He received a degree in electrical engineering from Bir Zeit University in 1988.
Ayyash became one of the chief bomb-makers for Hamas. In that capacity, he earned the nickname the Engineer (Arabic: ‎المهندس, transliterated Al-Muhandis). The bombings he orchestrated caused the deaths of more than 70 Israelis, many of them civilians. The bombings were carried out despite the signing of the Oslo Accords, which Hamas opposed.
Ayyash was assassinated, allegedly by the Israeli security forces in 1996, following a massive manhunt. A relative of one of Ayyash's fellow Hamas militants passed him a cell phone. It exploded when Ayyash was using it, killing him instantly. Reportedly, 100,000 people attended his funeral.
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