10 Movies Where People Died On Set

For anyone who has previous knowledge about this 1959 epic, they may have a guess as to where we are going with this entry, but it isn't what you think.

There is a fairly widely circulated urban legend concerning the iconic chariot-racing scene where it is said that not only did a stunt performer lose their life, but the shot of their death was kept in the final cut. This is actually untrue and while there is a shot where a stunt double nearly falls out of their chariot and (legitimately) injures their face when they impact the front of it, they escaped with only minor injuries.

This scene, which took five weeks to film and featured thousands of extras cheering in the stands, was a prime situation for injury and death. Dynamite was used to splinter chariot wheels and dummies to simulate dragging and trampling scenes. It needed many stunt performers and trained horses as well as multiple camera crews.

However, the only fatality was producer Sam Zimbalist, who sadly died of a heart-attack on set during the time when they were filming this famous scene.

Ben-Hur remains a well respected film to this day and was critically and financially successful.