Celebrity 8 of the Most Tragic On-Set Stunt Deaths in Film & TV History A look back at the lives lost on the sets of Deadpool 2, The Walking Dead and more By Grace Gavilanes Published on August 16, 2017 11:49AM EDT Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos 01 of 08 JOI 'SJ' HARRIS, DEADPOOL 2 Harris, who billed herself as the first African-American female road racer, died while performing a motorcycle stunt on the Vancouver set of Deadpool 2, PEOPLE confirmed in August 2017. "Today, we tragically lost a member of our crew while filming Deadpool," the film's star, Ryan Reynolds tweeted. "We're heartbroken, shocked and devastated… but recognize nothing can come close to the grief and inexplicable pain her family and loved ones must feel in this moment. My heart pours out to them — along with each and every person she touched in this world." 02 of 08 ALAN PURWIN & CARLOS BERL, AMERICAN MADE Courtesy Alan Purwin A small plane that was used by the crew on set of the Tom Cruise movie in the Colombian Andes crashed in 2015, leaving two people — Purwin (pictured with Cruise) and Berl — dead and a third, Jimmy Lee Garind, seriously injured (he was later left without feeling in the lower half of his body). Before his death, Purwin shared a photo of planes landing on a dirt runway, captioning the image: "#lovemyjob." 03 of 08 JOHN BERNECKER, THE WALKING DEAD John Bernecker/Facebook The 33-year-old stuntman, who had worked on The Hunger Games and The Vampire Diaries, among other movies and TV shows, experienced severe head injuries after falling 20 feet off a balcony onto a concrete floor on the set of The Walking Dead in July 2017. He was rushed to an Atlanta hospital, where he was placed on a ventilator before passing away. "John Bernecker's family has decided that he will be removed from life support, following organ donation," AMC said in a statement following the tragedy. "We are deeply saddened by this loss and our hearts and prayers are with John's family, friends and colleagues during this extremely difficult time." 04 of 08 HARRY O'CONNOR, XXX Bob Marshak/Columbia/Revolut/REX/Shutterstock The veteran skydiver and stuntman, who was serving as Vin Diesel's stunt double, was killed in 2002 after slamming onto a bridge while paragliding at full speed. His scene — not his death — made it to the final cut in tribute to O'Connor. 05 of 08 ART SCHOLL, TOP GUN Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock In an attempt to film footage in his camera-equipped aerobatic biplane for Top Gun in 1985, the famed stunt pilot performed an upside-down spin before his plane plummeted into the Pacific Ocean. The Coast Guard concluded that Scholl had not survived the crash; they weren't able to recover his plane. 06 of 08 KUN LIU, THE EXPENDABLES 2 Milennium/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Liu was killed in 2011 while filming an explosion scene on the Bulgarian set of the action sequel. Another stuntman, Nuo Sun, was seriously injured during that same scene. 07 of 08 CONWAY WICKLIFFE, THE DARK KNIGHT The Dark Knight. Warner Bros/DC Comics/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Wickliffe, who served as a cameraman on the set of The Dark Knight, was killed in 2008 while rehearsing a scene that called for him to lean out of a stunt car window to score the ideal shot. The driver of the vehicle was unable to nail his turn, causing the car to collide with a tree at 20 miles per hour. While the driver left the car without injuries, Wickliffe suffered head trauma and died at the scene of the accident. 08 of 08 BRANDON LEE, THE CROW Pressman/Most/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock He may not have technically been a stuntman, but the actor — whose father was the legendary Bruce Lee — died in 1993 on the set of the action film when a small explosive charge used to simulate gunfire went off and accidentally shot him.