Shows in which an actor's death is written into the show

[BooberFraggless]

I wasn't sure whether to post this under Classic Sesame Street or here. But I figured here would be better. As we all know when the actor Will Lee died in 1982 his charachter Mr. Hooper's death was written into the show. Now this is something I have been wondering about for quite a while. What other shows has their been an actor who died and then it was mentioned that their charachter had died on the show?

 

[BEAR]

John Ritter and Phil Hartman

 

[D'Snowth]

I know that doesn't really count, but McLean Stevenson's character Henry Blake was killed off M*A*S*H when he left the show. McLean himself died years later.

Marion Lorne and Alice Pierce were both on Bewitched, and died during the show's production, but instead, they're characters were either replaced with another actor/actress, or replaced by a new character all together.

 

[Tonichelle]

Richard Crenna as Jared Duff in Judging Amy, touching tribute, btw. http://judgingamy.tvfans.org/amy/episode/a420.htm

 

[ryhoyarbie]

John Spencer's death is going to mentioned in an episode of The West Wing.

ryan

 

[DanDanStrawberry]

The dad in 8 Simple Rules

EDIT: BEAR already mentioned that...

 

[anythingmuppet]

I know that doesn't really count, but McLean Stevenson's character Henry Blake was killed off M*A*S*H when he left the show. McLean himself died years later.

Marion Lorne and Alice Pierce were both on Bewitched, and died during the show's production, but instead, they're characters were either replaced with another actor/actress, or replaced by a new character all together.

Also, interesting fact: McLean Stevenson died a day before Roger Bowen ( the Henry Blake in MASH the Movie) did, and they both died of the same cause: heart attack.

 

[AAO]

Nicolas Constalonto - "Coach" from Cheers - that's when Woody Boyd emerged onto the scene. Around the end of the 3rd Season, Nicolas found that he only had so long to live from an illness. The cast knew he had 3 months or a year. Sadly, it was the 3 months. He filmed his last episode "Cherrio Cheers" and later died before the season ended. Throughout the rest of the season, the writers still had "Coach" in the series - acting like he was away on vacation and they even used bloopers in the episodes to make it look like he was still there. Then at the beginning of the 4th Season, they revealed that he had died after they did that "flashfoward" thing...Very sad - i hated to see him go ... such a great character for such a strong and irresistable series.

Rest in peace Nicolas..

Also, Edith Bunker played by Jean Stapelton was written out of the series and her character was killed off...Although she didn't die in real life...but it was really sad to see that character die...It was on the spin-off from "All in the Family" to "Archie Bunker's Place"...Jean was rarely on the series on account she was busy on Broadway. She talked with the writer's and said she didn't want to do the show anymore and they wanted to know if it was okay that they killed Edith off. She was worried but the Norman Lear said to her softly, "She's just a character..." It was tough though on account of the death of vital character...

 

[mikebennidict]

I think you misunderstood the post. By saying shows which an actor's death is written into the show mean the actor died. In the case of Jean Stapelton they just killed off her character and is still alive today.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

I thought Coach was a great character on Cheers. Yes he was a little slow in the old brain, who wouldn't be, but he was kind and was a good friend to everyone.

I thought Woody was a good character too.

Man, Cheers was a great show. Scratch that. Cheers IS a great show.

ryan