10 Actors Who Were Robbed Of Iconic Movie Roles By Injury

8. Raoul Walsh As The Cisco Kid - In Old Arizona

In Old Arizona Here's a crazy story about a little-known western film from 1929: based on the character of the infamous Cisco Kid, In Old Arizona is a relatively obscure film nowadays, but it did win Best Picture at the Oscars during the year of its release, so it's certainly iconic in its own regard - it also brought the "Singing Cowboy" trope to relative popularity, if you're wondering about that sort of thing. The film stars actor Walter Baxter as Cisco Kid, by the way, and he won an Oscar for his turn. Which turned out to be bad news for the guy who was originally supposed to play the role: Raoul Walsh. Yes, it was famed actor/ director Walsh who could have ended up with Oscar glory had he not got into a bizarre accident before shooting began. The injury? Whilst driving a jeep, a jackrabbit leapt through the window of the vehicle and the resulting collision ended up costing Walsh an eye. And indeed, the accident is the reason he wore an eyepatch from then on!
Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.