Game Of Thrones Actors You May Not Know Passed Away

As an action-heavy fantasy epic, "Game of Thrones" features some of the biggest and most jaw-dropping sword-and-sandal war scenes TV audiences ever witnessed. Brimming with blood, battles, and brutality, the series was in dire need of stunt doubles, body doubles, and more to help bring its visual spectacle to life. One of them was Andrew Dunbar, who served as an uncredited double for Alfie Allen in the role of Theon Greyjoy.

Dunbar had small roles in the British police procedural "Line of Duty" as well as the hit teen sitcom "Derry Girls" and the sci-fi series "Krypton." He had a steady gig on "Game of Thrones," working as an extra for many years alongside his role as Allen's body double. One of his larger featured roles on the show was as a Stark bannerman during the Battle of the Bastards. Dunbar also worked as a DJ when he wasn't in Westeros.

Tragically, Dunbar died in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Christmas Eve in 2019. Allen posted a tribute on social media, memorializing Dunbar, who was still in his 30s at the time of his passing.

Every House needs a leader, and for House Karstark it was Lord of Karhold, Rickard, played by John Stahl. Though he was the second actor in the role — Steven Blount originated the part in the first season episode "Fire and Blood" — it was Stahl who got the beefier appearances, showing up in five episodes across the show's second and third years.

The Scottish actor Stahl got his professional career started in the 1970s, but it wasn't until the '80s that he saw frequent work. That decade he began starring in the Scottish soap opera "Take the High Road" as Tom "Inverdarroch" Kerr, a role he played on and off for over 200 episodes until the series' end in 2003. He also landed appearances in other UK series, with guest appearances on episodes of "Taggart" and "Trial and Error" in 1994, and "Doctor Finlay" two years later.

After "Game of Thrones," Stahl showed up in minor roles in the big-budget period films "Victoria & Abdul" and "Mary, Queen of Scots." He also appeared in an episode of "Shetland" in 2016 and on "Midsomer Murders" in 2019, while his final on-screen role was in the Netflix holiday movie "A Castle for Christmas." In March 2022, Stahl died at the age of 68.

Peter Vaughan joined "Game of Thrones" in its first season, cast to play Aemon, the master at Castle Black and advisor to Lord Commander Jeor Mormont (James Cosmo). Vaughan played the part for four seasons and 11 total episodes, which came more than 60 years after he made his acting debut in the mid-1950s. That decade, he was all over TV, from "The Adventures of Ben Gunn" to "BBC Sunday Night Theater" and "Saturday Playhouse."

Vaughan had a varied and prolific acting career, with some of his more notable projects comprising the BBC adaptation of "Oliver Twist" in 1962 (he played Bill Sikes) and "Great Expectations" five years later (playing Mr. Jaggers). During this time he also made appearances on British TV classics like "The Saint," "The Avengers," and "Coronation Street." In 1977 he took the role of Harry "Grouty" Grout on "Porridge," a role he reprised in the feature film adaptation "Doing Time" two years later and again in the 2003 mockumentary "Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher." He also played Fritz Koenig in the original "Bourne Identity" TV miniseries with Richard Chamberlain.

Though he was never a famous leading man on the big screen, he did get to star alongside such heavyweights as Frank Sinatra, Meryl Streep, and Michael Caine. The role of Aemon was ironically one of Vaughan's biggest, and it was also the final role of his career. The veteran actor died in 2016 at the age of 93 of natural causes.

Standing an astounding 7 feet, 7 inches (and a little more), actor Neil Fingleton was the perfect man to play oversized brutes. He made his film debut in 2011 playing an imposing Russian bodyguard in Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class" and later appeared as a samurai inspired by H.P. Lovecraft in the Keanu Reeves-starring "47 Ronin." After playing the Fisher King in the "Doctor Who" episode titled "Before the Flood," Fingleton made three appearances on "Game of Thrones," first as Mag the Mighty in "The Watchers on the Wall" and later as a Giant Wight in a pair of Season 7 episodes.

Outside of acting, Fingleton was officially named the tallest person in the European Union and the World's Tallest Actor on top of being the UK's Tallest Living Man. His height made him perfect for basketball, a sport he played in college at the University of North Carolina. Having reached the height of 7 feet at the age of 11, Fingleton quickly gained national notoriety for his size. Sadly, Nigelton's size may have been what led to his death, as those of his stature often suffer ill health as they get older. He suffered heart failure in 2017 and died at the age of 36.

Welsh actor Margaret John was acting as early as 1957, and she started her career like many "Game of Thrones" stars, making guest appearances on various TV shows in Britain. This included episodes of "Z Cars," "Doctor Who," and "Coronation Street." Other credits early in her career include a recurring role on "Emergency-Ward 10" and a starring role in the TV miniseries "How Green Was My Valley." Well into her 80s, she entered the world of "Game of Thrones" as Old Nan, making two appearances in the show's first season.

In between, John spent the 1970s and '80s acting just about everywhere. Her largest role came in "Crossroads," the motel-centric British soap opera that ran for more than 20 years, and she appeared in nearly 150 episodes during its run. She also played Mrs. Hudson in the Christopher Lee-starring "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" and "Sherlock Homes: Incident at Victoria Falls." Back on "Doctor Who," meanwhile, John returned for a small role in 2006. But if today's viewers are familiar at all with John's filmography, they almost certainly recognize her as Doris O'Neill, the outspoken neighbor on "Gavin & Stacey."

John is the only actor in "Thrones" history to make her first appearance on the show posthumously. The episode "Lord Snow" aired almost exactly three months after her death on February 2, 2011.

Actor B.J. Hogg was an accomplished Northern Irish character actor with some solid screen credits. Before joining Westeros for HBO, he had a long career on stage, in major films, and on British television. In the 1980s, Kent had a recurring role on "Foreign Bodies," and the early '90s delivered him recurring roles on five separate shows, including the miniseries "The Hanging Gale" and the Cold War spy series "Children of the North," which also starred Michael Gough.

By the end of the 1990s, he had transitioned into mostly film roles, including the Oscar-nominated step-dancing short film "Dance Lexie Dance."  He also made appearances in the Cary Elwes and Timothy Dalton TV film "The Informant," the Irish horror film "Resurrection Man," and the Ireland-set films "The Brylcreem Boys," "Divorcing Jack," and "Titanic Town."

While his most well-known role is that of Ser Addam Marbrand, of House Marbrand, in the first season of "Game of Thrones," the performer also appeared in the British series "The Secret" and "The Fall," and he had small roles in the films "Your Highness," "City of Ember," and "The Windermere Children." The latter film, as well as his role as Big Mervyn in the BBC Northern Ireland series "Give My Head Peace," capped off his career. He played Mervyn for more than 20 years, debuting in 1998 until his death in 2020. He was 65 years old.

With a massive budget that shook the industry, "Game of Thrones" often used CGI and special effects to create fantastical monsters. But not every animal or creature was created by SFX, and several animal actors were used in the filming of the series. One of them was Bart the Bear, an Alaskan grizzly bear who has a more impressive resume in Hollywood than many human actors. Though not related, he was named in honor of Bart the Bear, another grizzly who was made famous for the 1988 film "The Bear" and was the iconic roaring beast in "12 Monkeys."

Bart 2, though, born just a few months before his predecessor's passing in 2000, had his own storied career, beginning with "Dr. Doolittle 2" in 2001 with Eddie Murphy, where he even appeared on the theatrical poster. Later movie credits include appearances in "Evan Almighty," "Into the Wild," "Zookeeper," and "We Bought a Zoo" before he guest-starred in the "Game of Thrones" episode "The Bear and the Maiden Fair." Elsewhere on the small screen, Bart the Bear 2 cameoed in "Scrubs" and "CSI." He was also an ambassador for the Vital Ground Foundation, an organization dedicated to wildlife conservation.

He died in 2021 at the age of 21 — a solid lifespan for brown bears, which usually live to 25 — and he accomplished more than most in that time.