10 Bizarre And Shocking Things That Happened On Film & TV Sets

From 1984 to 1985, CBS ran a short-lived action-adventure television series called Cover Up. Surprisingly, the brevity of its lifespan was not because the public rejected its ridiculously far-fetched premise or hammy acting. Well, perhaps that was partly the case, but its demise was definitely accelerated by the accidental on-set death of lead actor Jon-Erik Hexum.

In the series, Hexum played Mac Harper, a former Special Forces Operator who poses as a model in a ploy to hunt down the murderer of his phoney photographer's husband. Despite this nonsensical storyline, shooting was going smoothly until 12 October 1984 when, during a break between scenes, Hexum grew bored, picked up a .44 Magnum prop gun and began to play Russian roulette. He believed that being a prop, the gun wouldn’t cause him injury. Placing it to his temple, he pulled the trigger and the wadding from a blank cartridge was propelled into his skull.

A shard of bone pierced his brain, causing uncontrollable bleeding which left him braindead. Tragically, nothing more could be done for him and he was taken off life support six days later.