Death is a part of life and therefore it is also a part of the movies. But does it seem like some actors’ characters just can’t escape death? New research by Wildz called “One Million Ways To Die In Hollywood” took a deep dive into onscreen movie deaths.

It looked at the Top 40 causes of death in film history as well as the actors and actresses who have suffered the most onscreen deaths. How exactly did they do this you ask? The Wildz team sat through over 200 days of movies. That’s 4800 hours of watching films. To some that may be a dream, with my attention span it’s a nightmare!

Here are a few key findings of the study :

  • Hollywood loves guns – Nearly a ⅓ of the deaths across 3,509 films were caused by the shooting of an armed weapon.
  • Lee Van Cleef tops the list of the most shot actors with 22 gun-related deaths.
  • No less than 179 unique deaths were recorded
  • Male characters showed a 54.74% increase in death variety compared to Female characters.

You can read the full study here or keep reading to find out the top actors and actresses for onscreen deaths as well as the top causes of death in films.

  • Top 10 Male Actor Deaths

  • Danny Trejo

    69 onscreen deaths

  • Christopher Lee

    64 onscreen deaths

  • John Carradine

    59 onscreen deaths

  • Mel Blanc

    54 onscreen deaths

  • Lance Henriksen

    54 onscreen deaths

  • Vincent Price

    43 onscreen deaths

  • Frank Welker

    43 onscreen deaths

  • John Hurt

    42 onscreen deaths

  • Boris Karloff

    42 onscreen deaths

  • Tom Sizemore

    41 onscreen deaths

  • Top 10 Female Actress Deaths

  • Glenn Close

    26 onscreen deaths

  • Shelley Winters

    21 onscreen deaths

  • Linnea Quigley

    19 onscreen deaths

  • Brinke Stevens

    19 onscreen deaths

  • Rosalba Neri

    18 onscreen deaths

  • Julianne Moore

    18 onscreen deaths

  • Maria Ford

    16 onscreen deaths

  • Charlize Theron

    16 onscreen deaths

  • Sybil Danning

    15 onscreen deaths

  • Julie Strain

    15 onscreen deaths

  • Top 40 Causes of Onscreen Deaths

  • Shootings

    1054 deaths

  • Stabbing

    290 deaths

  • Unspecified Circumstances

    239 deaths

  • Explosion

    217 deaths

  • Burning

    94 deaths

  • Suicide

    94 deaths

  • Falling

    92 deaths

  • Supernatural Forces

    77 deaths

  • Decapitation

    72 deaths

  • Drowning

    71 deaths

  • Vehicle Crash

    55 deaths

  • Beating

    54 deaths

  • Crushing

    54 deaths

  • Impalement

    52 deaths

  • Illness

    46 deaths

  • Heart Attack

    44 deaths

  • Being Eaten Alive

    43 deaths

  • Strangulation

    40 deaths

  • Hanging

    39 deaths

  • Old Age

    36 deaths

  • Electrocution

    36 deaths

  • Broken Neck

    35 deaths

  • Slit Throat

    32 deaths

  • Poison

    30 deaths

  • Slashing

    24 deaths

  • Bodily Trauma

    24 deaths

  • Suffocation

    20 deaths

  • Running Over Of A Car

    20 deaths

  • Drug Overdose

    19 deaths

  • Throwing

    19 deaths

  • Head Trauma

    18 deaths

  • Defenestration

    18 deaths

  • Cancer

    17 deaths

  • Mauling

    17 deaths

  • Blood Loss

    12 deaths

  • Natural Causes

    12 deaths

  • Biting

    12 deaths

  • Heart Failure

    12 deaths

  • Injuries

    12 deaths

  • Bludgeoning

    11 deaths

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