Hollywood’s cursed film sets – plane crashes, killed by tiger and eerie coincidences

Some of the scariest moments on these film sets occurred when the cameras weren’t rolling.

Unfortunately, some of the most iconic Hollywood films ever made have been plunged into real-life tragedy behind the scenes. Members of their casts and crew have suffered horrifying deaths and accidents during and after filming.

And some of these incidents are so bizarre that you simply couldn’t make them up. It’s hardly a surprise, then, that fans believe that these movies were ‘cursed’ in some way or another.

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The Wizard of Oz is one example of a film apparently doomed to . It’s been almost 85 years since it premiered on August 25, 1939.

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard Of Oz has delighted fans for over 70 years since its release in 1939 – but several members of its cast suffered nasty injuries. During filming, two of the actors who played the winged monkeys suffered injuries after the wires that flew them up into the air broke.

In another scene, Betty Danko, who was the Wicked Witch of the West’s stunt double, injured her left leg after the broomstick exploded on set – leaving the actress in hospital for two weeks and with scarring to her skin.

Speaking about the film’s production in The Making Of The Wizard Of Oz, Aljean Harmetz said: “Some of these special effects had never been done before,” adding: “There were no unions, at that time. Stars and lesser players were indentured servants [for] studios.”

Actors were also injured by their makeup, with original Tin Man actor Buddy Ebsen hospitalised by the silver makeup after just nine days of filming. He was later replaced by actor Jack Haley, who went on to marry Judy Garland’s daughter Liza Minelli.

Margaret Hamilton, who played The Wicked Witch of the West, also suffered burns from the iconic green make-up that her character is associated with. The makeup was copper-based and potentially toxic.

Removing it from her burned flesh with alcohol was a highly painful process. She had to wear gloves when she returned to shoot the rest of the film, because her hand wasn’t fully healed.

The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is one of the most successful Hollywood film franchises of all time, but it was also plagued by tragedy as two members of its cast and crew died. Conway Wickliffe, a special effects technician for 2008’s Batman: The Dark Knight, died aged 41 while working on the film.

Wickliffe was running a test sequence in which the Batmobile blew up, and was filming a stunt car when the accident happened.He was operating a camera in a truck that failed to turn and instead crashed into a tree – sadly Wickliffe died at the scene.

While the film was in post-production, one of its leading stars also died six months before the films release. Beloved late Aussie actor Heath Ledger is known around the world for his portrayal of The Joker in the explosive Batman flick.

He was awarded an Academy Award posthumously for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight, as he died at the age of 28 years old in January 2008 from an accidental overdose. In the same year, Morgan Freeman, who played Lucius Fox in the film, was also seriously injured in a car accident in Mississippi in August 2008.

Poltergeist

The 1982 horror film Poltergeist is said to be one of Hollywood’s most cursed films. It is reported that real skeletons were used during one of the film’s scenes, and many of the cast and crew are reported to have attributed this as the reason why the film was cursed.

A scary scene involving an animatronic clown nearly killed actor Oliver Robbins as he was nearly strangled by the machine. Luckily, director Steven Spielberg managed to free him. Following its release, a number of its stars also died – including child star Heather O’ Rourke, who passed away from septic shock at the age of 12 years old.

Actress Dominique Dunn, who played Heather O’ Rourke’s older sister on screen, was also killed after being attacked by her ex-boyfriend, dying of her injuries at the age of just 22 years old. Actor Richard Lawson, who played Ryan, survived a plane crash in 1992.

The star had swapped seats with another passenger in exchange for his autograph. Over 27 passengers, including the person that Richard Lawson swapped seats with, died in the crash.

The Omen

The Omen was hit by so many awful events that it’s hard to think it was anything but cursed in some way or another. Numerous accidents and deaths occurred during its production and following its release.

Lead actor Gregory Peck, executive producers Mace Neufeld and Harvey Bernhard and screenwriter David Seltzer were all travelling in planes that were struck by lightning during production. All four luckily survived the terrifying ordeals.

But a private plane that the crew was going to use to bring Peck in hit a flock of birds and crashed, killing everybody on board and hitting a car driving on the road. And if this wasn’t already disturbing enough, the people in the car were the wife and two children of the plane’s pilot.

And shortly after filming wrapped, one of the animal handlers from the film’s baboon scene was also mauled to death by a tiger. Sadly, it wasn’t the only animal-related attack as rottweilers that were used to portray the hellhounds in the movie would often turn and attack their trainers, once seriously injuring stuntman Terry Walsh.

John Richardson, a special effects consultant on the movie, created the iconic death scenes but tragically went on to witness something just as harrowing in real life. One scene John created in the film showed a photographer called Keith Jennings being beheaded as a plate of glass was thrown at home and separated his head from his body.

A few months after The Omen was released, John was in Holland working on A Bridge Too far when he and his assistant Liz Moore were involved in a chilling car accident. Tragically, Liz as was cut in half by the other vehicle’s wheel, arguably mirroring the scene of Keith’s death.

The Exorcist

The Exorcist follows the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother’s attempt to save her with two priests. As many as nine deaths were connected to the iconic 1973 horror film.

When production started, a bird flew into a circuit box and burned down the set. But eerily, the room used for filming the exorcism scenes was the only part of the set that survived.

Not only fire, but ice tormented the set. Podcaster Christina Randall explained: “Something else strange that happened is that one day everybody came in to begin filming and the entire set was covered in thick white freezing snow.”

That bizarre occurrence was explained by Friedkin’s insistence of keeping the studio’s air condition down to its coldest setting to ensure that water vapour could be seen in the air as the actors spoke in Regan’s spookily chilly room. Nevertheless, that has never been known to happen on a film set either before or since.

Nine people connected to the film died during, or shortly after production. They included Jack MacGowran, who played fictional movie director Burke Dennings, and Vasiliki Maliaros, who played the mother one of the priests.

Actor Jason Miller’s toddler son was killed during filming after being struck by a motorbike. Other deaths included a night watchman, a special effects expert, a cameraman’s newborn baby and the grandfather of star Linda Blair.

The Conjuring

The 2013 film based on a true story follows real-life demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who helped get rid of the alleged demons tormenting the Perron family.

Apparently, when the real-life Perron famil visited the set they said they were met by a “fierce” gust of wind. While the Perrons were being “attacked” by the wind, mother Carolyn was at home and said she felt a presence seconds before she suffered a bad fall.

Not long after that, the cast and crew had to be evacuated from their hotel due to a fire. The set was reported to be haunted as screenwriters and Lorraine Warren constantly complained of their phones always suffering from static and often went dead mid-call.

Lead actress Vera Farmiga also claimed seeing “digital claw marks” appearing on her laptop screen and also on her thighs.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk