Here are the ten biggest Hollywood curses of all time according to our crack team of researchers and the first page of Google search results on the subject.
| ‘THE POLTERGEIST (1982) | ||
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It’s rumored that spirits were upset by the accidental use of real skeletal remains during filming. Four of it’s actors died within six years of the Poltergeist trilogy. Among them 12 year old Heather O’Rourke went to the hospital for what was believed to be the flu and died the next day. American Indian actor Will Sampson, 53, who played the medicine man, performed an on-set exorcism; he died a year later with kidney failure. Dominique Dunne, 22, was killed by her jealous boyfriend. Julian Beck, 60 (Detective Kane), died of stomach cancer.
Body Count: |
1 | |
| ‘Twilight Zone: The Movie’ (1983) | ||
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During a helicopter rescue scene a special effects explosion actually shot down a helicopter killed three cast members and decapitated star Vic Morrow. The film based on the popular TV series was released without that chapter and flopped in the box office.
Body Count: |
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| ‘Soul Men’ (2008) | ||
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50 year old Bernie Mac died August 9th, 2008 only to have co-star Isaac Hayes die one day later. It is rumored that Samuel L. Jackson locked himself in a hospital that night fearing celebrities die in threes. This pathetic comedy wasn’t released until two months the untimely deaths of it’s stars and made only $12 million dollars domestically. Body Count: |
3 | |
| ‘THE OMEN’ (1976) | ||
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Scriptwriter David Seltzer’s plane was struck by lightning. Star Gregory Peck, in a separate incident, had his plane struck by lightning. Richard Donner’s hotel was bombed by the Provisional IRA. Gregory Peck canceled his reservation on a flight. The plane he had originally chartered crashed, killing all on board (a group of Japanese businessmen). A warden at the safari park used in the "crazy baboon" scene was attacked and killed by a lion the day after the crew left. Rottweilers hired for the film attacked their trainers. On the first day of shooting, the principal members of the crew got in a head-on car crash. The curse continues to this day where the remake may have doomed multiple careers. Body Count: |
4 | |
| ‘THE MATRIX TRILOGY’ (1999-2003) | ||
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22-year-old Aaliyah hadn’t even finished filming before she died in a plane crash. The ‘Oracle’ Gloria Foster didn’t see her own death coming and it was rumored Brandon Lee had been cast to play Neo before his death. Perhaps the greatest curse fell upon the creators who haven’t made a decent film since. Body Count: |
5 | |
| ‘Superman’ (1951 and continuing) | ||
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The curse of Superman mainly strikes the actors cast as the good guys – play one of them, and there’s a good chance your career will stall or you’ll suffer serious misfortune. The most famous victims are George Reeves and Christopher Reeve. George played Superman in the 1950s. In 1959, eight days before he was due to be married, he was found dead from a gunshot wound, a mystery that provided the plot of last year’s Hollywoodland, starring Ben Affleck. Christopher was paralyzed after being thrown from his horse in 1995. In 2004, he died from heart failure. Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) now suffers from bipolar disorder. Marlon Brando played Superman’s dad before a series of tragedies befell his personal life, involving the imprisonment and death of his son Christian. Richard Pryor (Superman III), was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The careers of actors Kirk Allen and Dean Cain nose dived after playing the Man of Steel. Body Count: |
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| ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ (1955) | ||
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James Dean’s breakout role as a troubled teen would curse all three of the film’s stars to untimely deaths. James Dean died in a head on car crash in 1955. Natalie Wood who played his girlfriend drown just off of Catalina Island in 1981. Sal Mineo was stabbed to death at age 37.
Body Count: |
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| ‘The Misfits’ (1961) | ||
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The Misfits would prove to be the last major film for it’s three stars Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. This film had major locations throughout it’s production because of a heat wave in the Black Rock Desert. 59-year-old Clark Gable died of a hear attack 11 days after filming his own stunts in the heat. Monroe died of a drug overdose a year later and Clift died five years later. Body Count: |
8 | |
| ‘Atuk’ (Unreleased) | ||
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The comedy "The Incomparable Atuk " about an Eskimo warrior moving to the big city has never made partly because many who were cast died. Jim Belushi was originally cast died before filming began in 1982. Sam Kinison who would later die in a car accident accepted the role only to have financing for the film shut the production down. John Candy was considered for the role before dying of a heart attack in 1994, and Chris Farley was rumored to have accepted the role before dying of a drug overdose in 1997.
Body Count: |
9 | |
| ‘The Conqueror’ (1956) | ||
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Hollywood maverick turned crazy shut-in who saved his own urine in bottles made this box office disaster biopic of Genghis Khan. The recluse cast the caucasian cowboy actor John Wayne and things went bad from there. While filming a black panther tried to eat the female lead Susan Hayward. In a disastrous location selection the film was made in Utah’s Snow Canyon which was chalk full of fallout from nearby nuclear bomb tests at Yucca Flats. Of the 220 crew members 91 developed cancer and 46 died including the film’s star John Wayne, director Dick Powell and Susan Hayward. Body Count: |
10 | |
