Reaching the top of the Hollywood totem pole usually means you play the hero, get the girl, and ride into the sunset. But sometimes, you don’t even make it to the final fade out.
Death Toll: Seven Pounds, I Am Legend
Close, But No Flatline: Smith “died” temporarily in Hancock, but was revived – therefore, it doesn’t count.
Death Toll: The Mosquito Coast, What Lies Beneath
Cheater: Ford was made immortal (albeit briefly) in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Death Toll: Mrs. Soffel, Hamlet, Braveheart
Glutton for Punishment: Although he only notched three deaths, Mel’s numbers are bigger: Lethal Weapon, Conspiracy Theory,Braveheart, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Payback.
Death Toll: Taps, Vanilla Sky, Collateral, Valkyrie
Death Before Dishonor: Cruise’s most was definitely Taps. At the end of the movie where he played the military academy hothead, he lost his thing, opened fire with an M-60, and got thoroughly perforated by National Guard artillery. (“It’s beautiful, man!”)
Death Toll: Less Than Zero, Natural Born Killers, Richard III, The Gingerbread Man, U.S. Marshalls
Doppelkiller: Downey was killed – by himself – in The Singing Detective, but it’s a hallucination sequence.
Death Toll: Return to Horror High, Red Surf, The Perfect Storm, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Syriana
In the Can: Although Clooney notched a couple of early B-movie deaths, his character actually survived in Return of the Killer Tomatoes.
Death Toll: Cry Freedom, Glory, Heart Condition, Malcolm X, Fallen, The Preacher’s Wife, Training Day, Man on Fire
Count It: We gave Denzel half an entry for both Heart Condition im Best 10 Asia Movies(he played a ghost) and The Preacher’s Wife (he played an Angel).
Death Toll: Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, Henry V, The Secret Agent, Mary Mother of Jesus, Shaft, Harsh Times, The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma
Dual: Bale got to have it both ways in The Prestige. Those who saw it know what we’re talking about.
Death Toll: Midnight Cowboy, Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, Lenny, Death of a Salesman, Billy Bathgate, Hook, Wag the Dog, Perfume, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
Most Creative Death: In Hook, Hoffman was eaten to death by a reanimated crocodile.
Death Toll: Easy Rider, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Passenger, The Shining, Batman, Hoffa, Mars Attacks!, The Departed, The Bucket List
R.I.P.: Nicholson’s deaths all tend to be horribly violent – shot , dropped from high places, beaten – with the exception of The Bucket List, where his character was beaten with a bucket. Or so we heard.
Death Toll: Scarface, Dick Tracy, The Godfather: Part III, Carlito’s Way, Donnie Brasco, Insomnia, People I Know, The Recruit, Righteous Kill
Funny How? Al has twice been killed by comedians (John Leguizamo in Carlito’s Way and Robin Williams in Insomnia).
Death Toll: A River Runs Through It, Kalifornia, Legends of the Fall, The Devil’s Own, Meet Joe Black, Troy, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Nice Try: Brad “died” in two additional movies: Cool World and Fight Club. But in one he’s instantly revived as a cartoon and in the other he never actually existed.
Death Toll: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Platoon, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Ed Wood, Dead Man, The Astronaut’s Wife, From Hell, The Libertine, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (This one gets a half because he comes back to life in the third movie.)
Red Sea: Johnny holds the honor of bloodiest death on this list – in his debut movie, he played an Elm Street teen who was sucked into his bed by Freddy Krueger and turned into a giant plasma fountain.
Death Toll: Billy Bathgate, Mortal Thoughts, Death Becomes Her, Twelve Monkeys, The Jackal, Armageddon, The Sixth Sense, Hart’s War, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Sin City, Grindhouse: Planet Terror
Till Death…: Bruce was killed twice by his ex-wife, Demi Moore (Mortal Thoughts and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle).
Death Toll: Bloody Mama, Bang the Drum Slowly, Mean Streets, Brazil, The Mission, Cape Fear, This Boy’s Life, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Heat, The Fan, Jackie Brown, Great Expectations, 15 Minutes, Hide and Seek
You, You’re Good: DeNiro was killed by Pacino in Heat, and Pacino was killed by DeNiro in Righteous Kill.
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Hey Al Pachino has died in more movies.
THe Devils advocate ect.. keep researching but good start
Robert DeNiro wasn’t killed in brazil, was he?
Tom Cruise was revived in Vanilla Sky, like Hancock, it shouldn’t count.
brad pitt was killed in interview with a vampire by tom cruise…well technically he was turned into a vampire but he had 2 die first so i think it counts…
It’s easy to nitpick at a list like this so let me first say this is a great list. I never would have thought I could be interested in what movies stars died in but strangely I am.
But Denzel Washington did die in Bone Collector though.
Man I really hate seeing that guy die.
hey you racist prick if you can find it y is a ghost but than imaginary he was more real than the that ghost thru the whole movie it counts
And technically, Denzel Washington racks up another death in Deja Vu.
Fun idea for a list, but unfortunately it’s full of errors.
In addition to what others have commented, Gibson definitely dies in Braveheart.
I swear Bruce Willis is murdered in Inglorious Basterds. He plays one of the 13 German officers killed by Hugo Stiglitz. He only appears for a second, while Hugo suffocates him. Did any one else see that?
george clooney’s character didn’t die in syriana
Jack Nicholson dies in The Witches of Eastwick. And why isn’t Liam Neeson on this list?! I know of at least 5 movies were he’s killed off.
Al Pacino didnt die in Devils Advocate, he’s the devil and therefore immortal. Plus he’s the last character you see in the movie and he’s def. not dead.
Liam Nelson dies in almost every movie he is in. Where was he on this list??
I think Charelton Heston died a few times to.
Omega man, Planet of the apes, Earth Quake, Khartoum, El Cid etc etc.