These are the 10 actors most likely to die onscreen, and number 8 is Irish


Let's face it, there are some stars you just don't expect to make it to the end of a movie.

If the opening credits start to roll and you notice Sean Bean's name among the cast, the odds are he's not surviving to the end in one piece.

But who are the actors who die onscreen more than anybody else? has put together a handy top 10 for us - just don't get too attached if you spot any of the below among the cast next time you're down the cinema.


Christopher Lee

The star of two of the biggest film franchises of all time, Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings trilogies, Christopher Lee actually has his days as a Hammer horror veteran - he played Dracula 10 times - to thank for his grisly onscreen death count.

He appeared in 280 films and died 60 times including death by burning, stabbing, biting, drowning, falling, acid, impaling and crushing - basically you name it, he was killed by it.

What a way to go...John Hurt meets the Alien

John Hurt

The recently deceased actor is best remembered for his Oscar-winning turn in The Elephant Man, but John Hurt was also a dab hand at dying on camera, with 45 deaths in his 205 films.


He was shot 11 times, stabbed four times and hanged twice, and lets not forget the time that creature burst out of his chest in Alien...

Horror movie great Bela Lugosi looks shocked to make our list

Bela Lugosi

Another classic horror star, Bela met his end in 36 of his 116 films.

Usually playing the monster or villain, his onscreen deaths included being hurled off a cliff and thrown into a pit of molten sulphur.

Never trust a man who casts the shadow of a bat...Vincent Price is fourth on our list

Vincent Price

Another Hammer House of Horror alumni, Vincent was doomed to die onscreen in 32 of his 201 films.

Despite that he's probably best known for his cameo in Edward Scissorhands, or role as the scary narrator in Michael Jackson's Thriller.

He's laughing now, but Samuel L Jackson won't be smiling by the end of his next film

Samuel L Jackson


Bringing our list back to the present day, Samuel L Jackson is the only actor to also die in a video game - he meets his end in a fire engine crash in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Fault.

With 28 onscreen fatalities in 176 films, the likelihood of him of making it to the end of his next movie is just 15.9%.

Nedd Stark was just one of Sean Bean's many roles to meet a bitter end

Sean Bean

He's probably the actor most people expected to top our list - after all, we've seen him meet a grisly end in everything from Game of Thrones to Lord of the Rings to Goldeneye.

Fans have watched Sean die onscreen in 25 of his 119 films, giving him odds of 21/100, or 21%, of surviving his next movie.


Prometheus proved Charlize, seen here with co-star Idris Elba, shouldn't only run in straight lines

Charlize Theron

The first and only woman on our list, Charlize Theron has an almost 50% death rate, dying onscreen in 25 of her 52 movies.

She was crushed by a spaceship in Prometheus, hit by a burning car before falling off a cliff in Reindeer Games and dies after a lethal injection in Monster.

He says he'll find you and kill you, but Liam Neeson is just as likely to die himself along the way

Liam Neeson

Ireland's own Liam Neeson makes the list at number seven.

Fans of the Ballymena man have watched him die onscreen in 24 of his 119 films, giving him odds of just 1/5 of surviving his next movie role.

Liam has breathed his last in Batman Begins, A Million Ways To Die In The West and Michael Collins, but not in Taken - never in Taken.

He survived Aliens, but Michael Biehn doesn't make it to the end of many movies

Michael Biehn


You may ask who? but in the late 80s and early 90s Michael Biehn was the king of dying onscreen, usually in a big budget sci-fi hit.

He croaked in The Abyss, The Rock and Alien III, and who could forget his death as Kyle Reese in Terminator after returning to the past and impregnating Sarah Connors?

Mickey Rourke rounds out our top 10 die-hard actors

Mickey Rourke

Last on our list is Mickey Rourke, who has appeared in 77 films and died in 22 of them.

We've watched him die in Sin City, Iron Man II and Once Upon A Time In Mexico, making his odds of surviving his next movie are just 143/500 or 28.6%.