Vic Morrow - Blades Of Gory
How the acclaimed character actor met his death while working for John Landis and Steven Spielberg.
Back in the 1960s and '70s, if you wanted someone to play tough but couldn't afford Robert Mitchum or Lee Marvin, the chances are you'd knock on Vic Morrow's door.
A veteran of TV shows like The Untouchables, Bonanza and Combat!, Morrow's most memorable movie performances include a child-beating little league coach in The Bad News Bears and as the legendary gangster Dutch Schultz in Portrait Of A Monster.
He also starred opposite Elvis in King Creole and clashed with Lando Calrissian himself Billy Dee Williams in blaxploitation thriller The Take. Morrow was also the father of Jennifer Jason Leigh, the hugely talented star of The Hudsucker Proxy, Short Cuts and Single White Female.
When Vic Morrow died on 23 July 1982 he was only 53 years old. While most men who pass away at that age die of things as horrible but mundane as a heart attack, he died in truly extraordinary circumstances. And it all happened on the set of a film being produced and co-directed by Steven Spielberg.
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