10 Movie Scenes Changed After The Actor Died
1. John Mylong Was Promoted To Main Villain After Lionel Atwill's Death - Lost City Of The Jungle
1946's adventure serial Lost City of the Jungle had an especially novel answer for dealing with an actor's unexpected death mid-production.
Lionel Atwill was hired to play the film's primary villain Sir Eric Hazarias, yet died of lung cancer and pneumonia during shooting.
But rather than discard the footage featuring Atwill and recast the role, Universal boldly decided to go another route - change-up the narrative to fit their unfortunate circumstances.
And so a supporting character - Sir Eric's servant Malborn (John Mylong) - was rewritten to be Sir Eric's boss, effectively promoting him to main villain status.
Doubles and sneaky camerawork were nevertheless used to keep Atwill in the movie as much as possible, though his death ultimately resorted in the primary antagonist being totally reworked.
The risks of such an approach speak for themselves, and while Lost City of the Jungle isn't held up as a classic Universal serial by any means, it nevertheless deserves credit for making such a brave pivot during shooting.