Gold Coast stuntman Johann Ofner joins long list of people killed on film sets
JOHANN Ofner joined a long list, when he was fatally wounded on a Brisbane music video set on Monday.
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WHEN stuntman Johann Ofner was fatally wounded on a Brisbane music video set on Monday, it took little time for the eerie comparison to be drawn with the death of Brandon Lee nearly 25 years ago.
The actor son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee died when he was shot in the stomach on the film set of US movie The Crow in 1993, in frighteningly similar circumstance to the Gold Coast stuntman.
Both were 28 when they died.
Both were nearing the end of filming when the script called for them to be shot at close range with a prop handgun loaded with blanks.
While the exact circumstances that caused Ofner to suffer two fatal chest wounds remains under investigation, in Lee’s case, a stray dummy bullet unknowingly became lodged in the gun barrel.
When the blanks were fired, it became a projectile.
Ofner was filming the latest film clip for Australian hip hop outfit Bliss N Eso when he suffered his mortal wounds.
Unlike Lee, however, he never made it to hospital, dying where he was shot, on the floor of Brisbane underground bar, Brooklyn Standard.
Sadly, however, the deaths are just two in a long list of fatal, tragic accidents that have plagued film sets since the silent era.
Last year, after the death of a worker on the Hungary set of the Blade Runner sequel in August, an investigation by the Associated Press found that, since 1990, at least 43 people have died on sets in the US alone and more than 150 have been left with life-altering injuries.
Internationally, the wire service found the figure was 37 since 2000.
Many, such as Lee’s death, have prompted sweeping safety reviews.
But the majority have, sadly, gone largely unnoticed.
“I think it’s always been something that’s been swept under the rug,” said film critic, Stephen Farber.
The following are some of the deaths that have occurred on film sets.
ACROSS THE BORDER (1914)
The first recorded film set deaths came more than a century ago, when Grace McHugh, 16, was filming a river crossing scene in Canon City, Colorado.
The horse the young actor was riding lost its footing and threw her into the Arkansas River and she was quickly swept downstream by a swift current.
Cinematographer Owen Carter, 25, leapt into the water to save her and, while he was able to drag her to the riverbank, both were unaware the sandbar they rested on was actually quicksand.
The film crew watched in horror as they were both sucked into the quicksand, where they drowned.
The film was close to complete and went on to be released, despite the tragedy.
THE WARRENS OF VIRGINIA (1924)
Nearly a decade later, 24-year-old rising Hollywood star Martha Mansfield died after a freak set accident on Thanksgiving Day, 1923.
Ms Mansfield was on location in San Antonio, Texas, filming a civil war epic, when she retired to a car after a day of filming.
While she was still dressed in the layers of ruffles befitting her southern belle character, a cast member tossed a match, which ignited the flimsy fabric.
She was immediately engulfed by flames.
Leading man Wilfred Lytell threw his overcoat over her and her chauffeur tried desperately to remove the burning clothing but the young actor suffered significant burns.
She succumbed to her injuries in hospital the following day.
THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941)
One of the many pairings of Australian Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in their romantic swashbuckler films cost a stuntman, and a friend of Flynn’s, his life in the early days of the 1940s.
Horseman Jack Budlong, who was not a trained stuntman but a polo-playing friend of Flynn’s, decided, in a key battle scene, to brandish a real sword rather than a wooden prop like the professional stuntmen.
As he rode alongside Flynn, his horse was spooked and reared and Budlong tossed the sabre away before the horse threw him off.
Unfortunately, the sword landed with the blade facing upward. Budlong landed on it, impaling himself.
He was taken to the hospital where he died a few days later of peritonitis, an inflammation of the abdominal wall.
SHARK! (1969)
Another stuntman lost his life on the set of a largely forgettable Burt Reynolds film that was later retitled to cash in on the tragedy.
Originally named Caine, after the main protagonist, the film stars Reynolds as a gunrunner who becomes stranded in the Red Sea, who dives into shark-infested waters in the name of scientific research.
While shooting the film in Mexico in 1967, a stuntman was attacked and mauled to death on camera by a shark that was supposed to be sedated.
The production company later used the death to promote the film, leading to the walkout of the director.
TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1982)
Perhaps the worst film set tragedy in history was a triple fatality of actor Vic Morrow and two children on the film tribute to the popular supernatural television series.
In the climactic scene, Morrow was to rescue two Vietnamese children from helicopter fire during the Vietnam War.
But in a tragic series of events, the helicopter flew into an exploding charge, which blinded the pilot.
The aircraft crashed to earth, crushing the girl, 6-year-old Renee Chen, and decapitating Morrow and the 7-year-old boy, Myca Dinh Le.
THE CROW (1994)
In the scene that cost Brandon Lee his life, a revolver was fired at the actor from about three metres away, on the morning of March 31, 1993.
Dummy cartridges that had been used earlier were exchanged for blank rounds, which feature a live powder charge and primer, but no bullet.
The film’s firearms specialist had been sent home early, and so, the barrel was not checked for obstructions when it came time to load it with the blank rounds.
A bullet from the dummy round was stuck in the barrel.
When the blank round was fired, it, caused the dummy bullet to be fired with the same force as a live round.
It struck Lee in the abdomen, fatally wounding him.
Lee’s scenes were almost complete and finished with special effects.
The film was released the year after his death.
MIDNIGHT RIDER: THE GREG ALLMAN STORY (INCOMPLETE)
In 2014, Sarah Jones was a 27-year-old camera assistant working on “Midnight Rider,” a biopic of the musician Gregg Allman. On the morning of Feb. 20, the crew was setting up a scene on a railroad bridge that spanned a river in rural Georgia.
The main prop, a bed frame and mattress, was set on the tracks.
The crew had been assured that only two trains used that bridge and both had already passed.
When an unexpected third train loomed into view, the crew scrambled for safety.
Jones and some others made it to the narrow walkway that bordered the tracks, clinging to the girders that rose up outside it.
In their haste to escape, the bed was left behind.
The train hit at around 60 miles (97 kilometres) per hour, sending metal bars flying.
By the time the train had passed, six crew members were seriously injured.
Jones lay dead on the tracks, killed after being struck by either the mangled metal frame or the train itself.
Later investigations revealed permission to use the bridge had not been sought.
The film producers were charged and received fines and probation after pleading guilty.
Director Randall Miller was jailed for two years.
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