Death in the Twilight Zone

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Today in History, July 23: 1982 – Twilight Zone: The Movie met with success, including the “Nightmare at 20,000 ft” segment which included a terrific performance by John Lithgow, but it came at a terrific price. On this date in 1982, on the last date of filming, veteran actor Vic Morrow (Combat!) and two small children were running from a Vietnam era helicopter shooting a scene. Special effects explosives caused the pilot to lose control, and the aircraft crashed into the actors, killing them. It would be the first time movie producers were charged with negligent homicide, a charge they would defeat. However the producers, including Steven Spielberg, settled for an undisclosed amount in the civil suits. I couldn’t find any photos of the child actors, but their loss (Renee Shinn Chen and Myca Dinh Le) was not less than that of Vic Morrow,

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