List of entertainers who died during a performance

Last updated

Through history, many entertainers have died while performing live or while recording a performance. [1] [2] The following list excludes deaths involving stunt persons, as they are listed separately.

Contents

17th century

19th century

20th century

21st century

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Cooper</span> Welsh-English comedian and magician (1921–1984)

Thomas Frederick Cooper was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. As an entertainer, his appearance was large and lumbering at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m), and he habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army for seven years, before developing his conjuring skills and becoming a member of The Magic Circle. Although he spent time on tour performing his magical act, which specialised on magic tricks that appeared to fail, he rose to international prominence when his career moved into television, with programmes for London Weekend Television and Thames Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Morecambe</span> English comedian (1926–1984)

John Eric Bartholomew, known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. Morecambe took his stage name from his home town, the seaside resort of Morecambe in Lancashire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallagher (comedian)</span> American comedian (1946–2022)

Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., known simply as Gallagher, was an American comedian who became one of the most recognizable comedic performers of the 1980s for his prop and observational routine that included the signature act of smashing a watermelon on stage with a wooden sledgehammer. For more than 30 years, he played between 100 and 200 shows a year, destroying tens of thousands of melons with the sledgehammer he called the "Sledge-O-Matic". This last sketch was meant to poke fun at infomercials who peddled similarly inane products and whose popularity apexed in the late 1970s/early '80s before waning during the '90s.

Theatrical superstitions are superstitions particular to actors or the theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Foy</span> 19th and 20th-century American actor

Edwin Fitzgerald, known professionally as Eddie Foy and Eddie Foy Sr., was an American actor, comedian, dancer and vaudevillian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Taylor (actor)</span> American actor, singer and writer (1952–2002)

Ronald James Taylor was an American actor, singer and writer. He grew up in Galveston, Texas, and later moved to New York City to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After graduating, Taylor began working in musical theater, appearing in The Wiz (1977), before getting his break with the 1982 off-Broadway production Little Shop of Horrors. Taylor voiced the killer plant Audrey II in the show, which ran for five years and over 2,000 performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunderland Empire Theatre</span> Theatre in Sunderland, North East England

The Sunderland Empire Theatre is a large theatre venue located in High Street West in Sunderland, North East England. The theatre, which opened in 1907, is owned by City of Sunderland Council and operated by Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd, on behalf of Sunderland Empire Theatre Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Lynch (musician)</span> American comedian, musician and actor (born 1971)

Stephen Andrew Lynch is an American comedian, musician and actor who is known for his songs mocking daily life and popular culture. Lynch has released four studio albums and four live albums along with a live DVD. He has appeared in two Comedy Central Presents specials and starred in the Broadway adaptation of The Wedding Singer. Lynch released a double-disc album, Lion, on November 13, 2012. In 2016, he released a live concert video, Hello Kalamazoo. He released his studio/live album My Old Heart in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Shawn</span> American actor and comedian (1923–1987)

Dick Shawn was an American actor and comedian. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap comedies, usually portraying caricatures of counterculture personalities, such as the hedonistic but mother-obsessed Sylvester Marcus in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and the hippie actor Lorenzo Saint DuBois ("L.S.D.") in The Producers (1967). Besides his film work, he appeared in numerous television shows from the 1960s through the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Mooney (comedian)</span> American writer and entertainer (1941–2021)

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Prashant Damle is a Marathi actor, comedian who has acted in numerous Marathi drama, movie and Soap opera over 35 years. He has been associated with Marathi theatre since 1983 and till date has performed in 27 different plays and a variety of hundreds of roles. Damle is widely recognized as the biggest ultimate superstar of Marathi theatre.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkyakarkus</span> American comedian

Harry Einstein, known professionally as Harry Parke and other pseudonyms, most commonly Parkyakarkus, was an American comedian, writer, and character actor. A specialist in Greek dialect comedy, he became famous as the Greek chef Nick Parkyakarkus on the Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson radio programs, and later on a program of his own. He appeared in eleven films from 1936 to 1945. He was also the father of comedians and actors Albert Brooks and Bob Einstein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Stennett</span> Welsh musician and comedian (1925–2013)

Stanley Llewelyn Stennett was a Welsh comedian, actor and jazz musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Cognito</span> English stand-up comedian (1958–2019)

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John Richard Easton was a Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial The Brothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moin Akhter</span> Pakistani comedian

Moin Akhter, was a Pakistani television, film and stage artist, humorist, comedian, impersonator, host, writer, singer, director and producer who rose to fame in the era of Radio Pakistan along with his co-actors Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari. He became an icon through his screen persona "Rozi" and is considered to be a one-of-a-kind parodist and the king of Urdu comedy. His career spanned more than 45 years, from childhood in the Radio Pakistan era to work of great renown on television, film and stage until a year before his death in 2011.

Los Rayos Gamma is a Puerto Rican comedy troupe specializing in political satire. The group was founded in the late 1960s and is currently composed of:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Knutt</span> English actor and comedian (1945–2017)

Robert Andrew Wass, known professionally as Bobby Knutt, was an English actor and comedian. He was known throughout his acting career for appearing as Albert Dingle in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale and in Coast to Coast, a film with Lenny Henry, and in his final years for the role of Eddie Dawson in the ITV sitcom Benidorm. Before making his name in British television, he had appeared in another ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, from 1980 to 1983 portraying Ron Sykes.

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