Freak Accidents That Nearly Killed Actors Off Set
Accidents will happen, as Elvis Costello told us many years ago. A broken plate, a stumble and fall, a second too long at a yellow light — they are all reminders that we live in an imperfect universe and that our best intentions may not be enough to help us avoid occasional messes, mishaps, and even outright injury. You can't avoid every accident, and regrettably, you can't avoid the occasional freak accident — both the minor and the major.
No one is immune to accidents — even Hollywood celebrities. Following is a list of major screen talents who suffered some form of random, almost impossible occurrence that put them in harm's way. Some of the actors on the list survived their freak accident without much to show for it, while others weren't so lucky, and lived to astound fans with accounts of their bizarre experiences.
Jeremy Renner was crushed by a snowplow
Jeremy Renner has played his share of tough characters — such as Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Still, his real-life traumatic accident in 2023 proved he's stronger than any depiction of him on screen.
According to a report filed by the Washoe County Sheriff's Department, Renner was helping pull his nephew's truck out of a snowbank when the machine he was operating began to slide, possibly due to mechanical issues. To prevent the plow from injuring his nephew, Renner was pulled under and run over by the vehicle. His injuries were extensive and traumatic and included more than 30 broken bones, a collapsed lung, and a crushed eye socket.
Multiple surgeries were required, followed by months of physical therapy. By late March 2023, Renner was walking with assistance, and the following month, he attended the premiere of his Disney+ series "Rennervations." In an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC News (via People.com), Renner credited his own will to survive as a key component of his recovery. "I shifted the narrative of it being victimized or making a mistake ... I refuse to be f****** haunted by that memory that way."
Richard Pryor accidentally (or deliberately) set himself on fire
There are two schools of thought regarding the 1980 incident in which comedian Richard Pryor was injured in a fire. According to Pryor, he caught on fire as a result of an explosion that took place while he was freebasing cocaine. But Pryor's widow, Jennifer Lee Pryor, and former lawyer, Skip Brittenham, both stated that the fire was a suicide attempt that began with Pryor dousing himself in alcohol and then igniting the liquid.
Whatever the reason, the details of the incident shocked the entertainment community. Pryor fled his Los Angeles home, still engulfed in flames, and ran for nearly a mile until he was restrained by police. Six weeks of painful recovery to repair second and third-degree burns on more than 50% of his body followed. To the amazement of media observers, Pryor not only recovered but also used the incident as material for his stand-up film, "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip." Widely regarded as one of the best live comedy performances on film, "Sunset Strip" proved that Pryor could find humor in any subject — even his misfortune. "Fire is inspirational," he said (via The Huffington Post). "They should use it in the Olympics because I ran the 100 in 4.3."
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
Amy Schumer collided with her surfboard
Comedian Amy Schumer suffered a freak accident long before she ever began working on television and movie sets. As she told Vanity Fair in 2016, she came close to what she believed was a fatal situation while surfing in the waters near New York's Manhattan borough. A collision with her board drove the skeg — the hydrofoil on the end of a surfboard that helps the rider steer — into her leg. This forced the then-teenage Schumer to pull it out herself.
Immediately after the accident, Schumer had two thoughts, the first was that the profuse bleeding from the wound would attract sharks, and the other, "I'm going to lose my leg," she said. "And now, I'm going to have to go and be a speaker at high schools, and like, motivate people." Thankfully, neither of those scenarios came to pass, and a man on the beach kept the wound closed while they waited for an ambulance. "He saved my life, for sure," said Schumer.
Sandra Bullock had two run-ins with planes
Sandra Bullock's first aviation mishap took place when she was promoting the 1998 film "Hope Floats." "I was flying to a press junket on this private plane with [co-star] Harry Connick Jr. and a bunch of other people," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I ran to get my bag, turned around, and all I remember is this flash of light and then my glasses went flying. I had no idea what had happened. And Harry just said, 'Nobody say anything. She just ran into the wing [of the plane].'" This incident left Bullock with a bloody cut on her forehead and a black eye.
Bullock's second plane incident was slightly more dramatic. The Oscar-winning actor was flying from her home in Austin, Texas to her property in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on the morning of December 20, 2000, when the twin-engine plane she was on missed the runway and crashed into 2 feet of snow. Bullock was left with slight whiplash but was able to walk away from the accident, which was blamed in part on pilot error. According to a study by the Flight Safety Foundation, the lack of serious injury was an anomaly, and when a plane is forced to exit the runway for accidental reasons, there is a high rate of fatalities.
A car accident gave Jonah Hill a life-changing scar
Jonah Hill's body has been a topic of media conversation ever since broke out in films like "Superbad." Much of it has been focused on Hill's weight — so much so that he felt the need to address it on his Instagram account in 2021 (via CNN). "I know you mean well but I kindly ask that you not comment on my body," he wrote. "Good or bad I want to politely let you know it's not helping and doesn't feel good."
Undoubtedly, Hill's request also extended to the conversation about the sizable scar on his arm, which came as a result of his involvement in a car accident during his teen years. As he explained to Rolling Stone, he joined a friend in a joyride that turned near-fatal when the vehicle rolled over. Hill's arm was out of the passenger window at the time of the accident and was dragged across the pavement. He woke up in the hospital to find his parents crying and doctors discussing the possibility of amputating the arm. The accident spurred Hill to get his act together for his and his parents' sake. "I said to myself, 'I'll never let them down again,'" he explained.
Leonardo DiCaprio escaped death three times
Speaking with Wired in 2015, Leonardo DiCaprio said that several friends regard him as the last person they want with them on extreme adventures. "I always seem to be very close to being part of a disaster," he explained. "If a cat has nine lives, I think I've used a few." That's no exaggeration, as the actor has been involved in three harrowing accidents.
In the first of these, DiCaprio was diving in South Africa when a Great White lunged for a fish and landed in the shark cage with him, bringing him within arm's length of being bitten. DiCaprio was also in a plane when one of its engines exploded — leading to an emergency landing — and discovered while tandem skydiving that both of his parachutes were unable to open.
DiCaprio told Wired that while his skydiving partner eventually freed the parachutes, he'd told him, "'You're probably going to break your legs on the way down because we're going too fast now.' So after you see your whole life flash in front of your eyes – twice — he says, 'Oh, your legs are going to get broken too.'" Thankfully, both of them avoided serious injury, it put DiCaprio off skydiving for life.
Alison Brie had two accidents, one after the other
"Community" and "GLOW" star Alison Brie experienced a horrifying one-two punch of freak accidents when she was just 7 years old. In a 2022 interview on the "HypochondriActor" podcast, Brie recalled colliding with another kid in the playground and striking her head on concrete. Unfortunately, the school nurse was out that day and was advised by the less medically experienced office staff to lie down in a darkened room.
But as "HypochondriActor" host Dr. Priyanka Wali noted on the episode, Brie most likely suffered a concussion, and lying down or sleeping afterward can mask serious health issues like internal bleeding. When Brie woke up, she reported memory and vision loss, which prompted her father to bring her to the hospital. Brie said that she had no recollection of the trip until she found herself on the floor of her dad's car. Brie's dad had gotten into a car accident which jolted her out of her seat — a dangerous and even potentially fatal situation. She eventually made it to the hospital where she was kept under observation. Thankfully, her eyesight returned after about 10 hours, with Brie even remarking "I've had great vision ever since!"
Orlando Bloom fractured his back in a fall
Freak accidents can affect an individual in many different ways beyond the pain and trauma of the actual incident. Orlando Bloom illustrated the long-lasting impact of such an accident in a UNICEF Instagram post. The "Gran Turismo" star explained that as a teenager, he fell three stories while scaling a drainpipe on a building and broke his back. In the early stages of recovery, Bloom was told that he might never walk again. He explained in the video, "That was really the beginning of what was a long and painful journey for me into recognizing and understanding some of the patterns that had been in my life that led to me having numerous accidents."
Though he quickly recovered his physical strength, Bloom said that his mental health took a lot longer to repair. "I would say the months after the fall were quite a dark time," he said. In a profile by GQ, Bloom traced the path he followed to reframe his mindset and lead a more positive life. "When I came out of the hospital, I started partying right away — with the back brace on," he explained. "It took me a couple of months to realize this was my life, and I didn't want to mess it up."
Squid Game star Geoffrey Giuliano cut off two toes with a chainsaw
Geoffrey Giuliano is a man with many identities: an author with more than 20 books to his name, film director, radio host, and most recently, an actor in "Squid Game" and "Peninsula." He's also one of the few people who can claim to have had two of his toes cut off in a chainsaw accident.
The Daily Mail quoted a 2023 video released by Giuliano in which he described the accident, caused by a worker rebuilding his home in Thailand. According to the actor, the chainsaw somehow became airborne before landing and chewed up his big toe and index toe. Giuliano said that the accident was bloody but not painful, and after collapsing he had enough presence of mind to retrieve the missing toes and take them to the hospital. "They sewed them on temporarily," he said in the video, which was filmed before he went into reconstructive surgery to repair the injury. Though seemingly nonchalant about the injury, Giuliano also added, "The doctors told me I'm lucky to be alive."
Tracy Morgan suffered brain damage after a truck accident
Comedy turned to tragedy in 2014 when actor and "Saturday Night Live" veteran Tracy Morgan was involved in a traffic accident that claimed one life and left him grievously injured. Morgan was returning from a performance in New Jersey on June 7 of that year when the minibus he was traveling in was struck by a tractor-trailer truck. Its driver, Kevin Roper, had fallen asleep after spending more than 11 hours at the wheel and crashed into Morgan's minibus to avoid traffic ahead of him.
One of the passengers, fellow comic James McNair, was killed in the accident, and several others were injured. Morgan suffered multiple broken bones and a traumatic brain injury — both of which required weeks of rehabilitation to allow the comedian to walk and talk again. Morgan returned to performing in 2015 but acknowledged that this was challenging. "I don't think any of us are 100% but I feel well," he told Hoda Kotb on The Today Show in 2021 (via People.com). "I don't know about tomorrow, but I know today I'm sitting here talking to you. I feel great."
Zac Efron shattered his jaw and fell under a bus
When it comes to surviving critical injuries and near-death experiences, Zac Efron seems to give Leonardo DiCaprio a run for his money. The star first battled plastic surgery rumors in 2013 when media outlets noted that his face — particularly his jaw — appeared to have changed. In a 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Efron quelled speculation by explaining that he had shattered his jaw after a fall in his home in 2013. This required him to have his mouth wired shut and stitches to repair a gash suffered in the accident. "I almost died," he said.
Efron's second brush with death came when filming "The Greatest Showman" with Hugh Jackman. The pair took to the London streets on bicycles during the early morning hours, which nearly led to a fatal traffic accident, As he explained on The Graham Norton Show (via Metro UK), "I followed Hugh around a few cars and suddenly, there was a double-decker bus right in front of me." Efron managed to slam on the brakes but still slid under the front tire before the bus came to a stop. Jackman's reaction? "Hugh was on the other side of the road and stuck his thumb up and just said, 'You good? Let's go,'" said Efron.
Harrison Ford survived numerous plane accidents
Harrison Ford has had not one but four separate aviation incidents that could've ended in disaster. The most serious of these was his 2015 crash-landing at the Penmar Golf Course in Venice, California, when Ford brought his World War II-era plane down onto the green after reporting engine failure and suffered a broken arm and head injuries. An investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board later said that Ford was lucky to survive the accident.
Ford also had to execute an emergency landing in a river bed in 1999 while training to fly a helicopter. Details are few concerning this incident, but Ford and his instructor reportedly walked away unharmed while the chopper sustained considerable damage. One year later, Ford's plane was blown off a runway in Nebraska, which resulted in slight damage to the plane and an overnight hospital stay for the actor. More recently, Ford nearly impacted with a passenger plane in 2017 when he mistook a taxiway — the path that connects a plane to the runway — for an actual runway. That mishap earned Ford a reprimand from the Federal Aviation Administration. Three years later, Ford failed to wait for another plane to land before entering the runway at the municipal airport in Hawthorne, California, which prompted another apology from the star.
Ryan Reynolds' parachute failed to open
Best known for playing the titular superhero in "Deadpool," Ryan Reynolds may have wished he had superpowers when he had a freak skydiving accident as a teenager, experiencing the ultimate nightmare: his parachute wouldn't open after he leaped from the plane.
"I'm falling to the ground, thinking that was great, and then I pulled my cord and ... nothing," Reynolds recalled. Despite this horrifying moment, Reynolds said he remained calm and remembered the emergency procedure to release the reserve parachute. But as the actor explained, "This may sound odd, but when you're falling like that, you just can't bring yourself to do it." The actor was gripped with fear that the same thing might happen with the reserve: "I don't want to find out if it's going to work or not."
Thankfully it worked, and Reynolds made it safely to the ground. "That was the point where my whole world collapsed, and the panic attack kicked in." Reynolds' response was extreme but entirely understandable: "I turned my entire jumpsuit into a toilet."
Tom Hardy nearly lost a finger
Tom Hardy seems to have more than his share of stories about physical mishaps during filming. There's the array of broken bones he endured on "Warrior," the much-debated knockout punch from Shia LaBoeuf (which was reportedly more of a tumble downstairs), and the pair of knee surgeries he needed after filming "Venom." But one of Hardy's worst and most enduring injuries happened far from a movie set.
If you've ever seen a picture of Hardy's hands, you might note that the little finger on his right hand is bent and seemingly immobile. That's due to an injury when, as a younger man, he drove a knife into a cutting board. The knife found its mark — and also the tendon in Hardy's finger, which was severed and required several operations to reattach. Though the surgery was successful, the injury left Hardy with a curled pinkie. As Hardy himself told Esquire in 2018, "Don't play with knives."
Though a severed tendon sounds like a painful but not life-threatening situation, it has the potential for serious complications. As the National Health Service notes, tendons can develop dangerous infections if not kept clean, and the repaired tendon can also rupture or attach to tissue that limits its mobility.