​The Actors With Most Onscreen Deaths Were Revealed, And The One You'd Assume Is #1 Is Not Even In The Top 10

Sean Bean smirks while Famke Janssen watches in the background in Goldeneye.
(Image credit: Danjaq, LLC and MGM)

It's fascinating to consider that one actor holds the record for doing a certain thing on screen more than any other, such as dying. In fact, a list ranking actors with the most onscreen deaths in movies and TV shows was released recently, and the first actor to come my mind when I learned about this was probably the same person you first pictured: Sean Bean.

Indeed, the English actor and subject of countless memes referencing his many ill-fated roles is mentioned on the list, but he is not ranked nearly as high as I (and likely you) would have assumed. So, just where does Sean Bean fall on this list of actors with the most onscreen deaths, and who has the honor of being Number One? Let’s find out.

Sean Bean gesturing in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

(Image credit: New Line Cinema)

Sean Bean Is The 25th Most Killed Actor

Sean Bean has been acting for more than 40 years, and during that time, has played many memorable roles that do not make it to the end of the story. Most notably (according to a fun little guide to the actor’s onscreen deaths I found on Reddit), his Bond villain from GoldenEye, Alec Trevelyan, is crushed by a falling satellite; his Lord of the Rings movie character Boromir is shot by arrows in The Fellowship of the Ring; and he only lasted one season on the Game of Thrones cast as Eddard Stark before he was beheaded.

With these and plenty more examples, you might be shocked to discover that, on the official list of actors with the most onscreen deaths from GameZingers (via The Mirror), Bean sits at #25 with 25 deaths in films and 13 in TV shows, totaling to just 38, which makes him tied with Willem Dafoe and Bruce Willis. Well, I would say that is certainly a fictional death streak to be proud of, which only makes me wonder who could possibly be sitting 24 rungs above the ladder and with how many deaths total.

Megatron in Transformers

(Image credit: Paramount)

Number One Is A Prolific Voice Actor

With 111 total onscreen deaths, including 69 cinematic demises and 42 on the small screen, the actor holding the record at Number One is Frank Welker. If you do not recognize the name, you will surely recognize his voice, as he is known for playing countless iconic animated characters, including Scooby-Doo. However, Mystery Inc.’s great dane is not among his deceased characters, which include his multiple roles in the Transformers franchise, including Megatron.

Beneath him in second place with 92 deaths is Danny Trejo, which makes sense when you consider he has more than 400 acting credits, including the ‘90s action movie classic Heat and a couple of the best episodes of Breaking Bad (both of which see him die in memorable ways). The list also includes fellow Lord of the Rings star Christopher Lee, Eric Roberts of The Dark Knight fame, and Ron Perlman, and the leading female on the list is another prolific voice actor named Tara Strong, who has voiced quite a few DC characters who have met a bitter end.

You want to hear another surprising pop culture statistic? According to the Netflix docuseries History of Swear Words, the actor who holds the record for dropping the most F-bombs onscreen is… not Samuel L. Jackson, but Jonah Hill with 376 utterances to date. I guess the lesson here should be to never assume that what you expect will always be the correct answer.

Jason Wiese
Content Writer

Jason Wiese writes feature stories for CinemaBlend. His occupation results from years dreaming of a filmmaking career, settling on a "professional film fan" career, studying journalism at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO (where he served as Culture Editor for its student-run print and online publications), and a brief stint of reviewing movies for fun. He would later continue that side-hustle of film criticism on TikTok (@wiesewisdom), where he posts videos on a semi-weekly basis. Look for his name in almost any article about Batman.

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