Actors Who Passed Out While Filming TV Shows
Although acting might seem like a pretty cushy gig to most people, actors are not immune from suffering all kinds of problems. After all, accidents can happen in all forms of life, and television sets are no exception. Filming locations can be busy places filled with cast, crew, and equipment, and that means there is a lot of opportunity for something to go wrong and end up with somebody getting hurt.
Of course, actors might pass out for any number of reasons, and an injury is just one of them. Tough working conditions might overheat stars as they perform, while intense action scenes or fight sequences might lead to exhaustion. It's also possible that an actor might be ill and end up fainting as a result of feeling unwell. Whatever the case, plenty of television stars have ended up unconscious while working on shows.
Below, we look at some notable examples of actors who blacked out on set, leading to an outpouring of concern from their fellow cast and crew. Fortunately, none of them suffered any lasting harm due to these incidents.
Sue Cleaver
Although Sue Cleaver may not be a familiar face outside the United Kingdom, the actor is a household name in her native country. That's because she portrays a well-known character in the hugely popular soap opera "Coronation Street." Cleaver has been a regular fixture on the series since 2000, appearing in more than 2,200 episodes on ITV as Eileen Grimshaw. This has made Cleaver immediately recognizable to millions around the U.K.
During a 2012 storyline, Eileen starts dating a firefighter called Paul Kershaw (Tony Hirst). However, Paul has a wife, Lesley (Judy Holt), who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and is unaware of the situation. This eventually leads to a confrontation between Eileen and Lesley, with the scene showing the confused wife attacking Cleaver's character. The only problem was that Holt actually struck Cleaver by mistake, punching her directly in the face.
Cleaver explained the situation to The Mirror: "Judy's character had Alzheimer's. She punched me, misjudged it, and I got knocked out cold on the floor." The actor also confirmed that she had to visit a hospital, much to her co-star's embarrassment, before she could continue filming. However, some good did come from the situation, as the final scene had a realistic punching sound to use in the broadcast.
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne is not someone who started out as a television star. She began dating her future husband Ozzy Osbourne in the late 1970s, having met him through her father who was managing the band Black Sabbath. Sharon went on to take over managing Ozzy as a solo artist and established a career in looking after the interests of musical acts before moving into reality television with a starring role in "The Osbournes." Since that time, Sharon has been a regular on TV screens on both sides of the pond, appearing in everything from talent shows such as "America's Got Talent" and "The X Factor" in addition to daytime talk shows like "The Talk."
Some of her notable projects in recent years have involved her son Jack Osbourne, who has a paranormal reality television series on the Travel Channel. "Jack Osbourne's Night of Terror" has investigated everything from ghosts to UFOs and often includes other members of his family involved. An upcoming 2023 season included his mother Sharon, who suddenly collapsed during filming.
On her show "The Talk," Sharon explained how she passed out for 20 minutes, but despite being examined in two hospitals, doctors could not find a medical explanation for why she lost consciousness. However, this was not the first time Sharon has collapsed, with an incident in 2015 being blamed on exhaustion.
Peter Capaldi
To many people, Peter Capaldi is best known for portraying the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the hit BBC sci-fi series "Doctor Who." He played the infamous Time Lord for four years between 2013 and 2017 before stepping down from the role. Before that, he had established himself as a comedy actor, appearing as the foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in Armando Iannucci's "The Thick of It." Capaldi has also had parts in Hollywood films such as "Paddington," "Christopher Robin," and "The Suicide Squad."
During an earlier time in his career, he was filming a BBC adaptation of "The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling" with "Flash Gordon" actor Brian Blessed when he was knocked unconscious. Capaldi told Empire Magazine (via The Mirror) that Blessed accidentally struck him. Once the actor woke up, he was quickly taken to hospital and still has a scar to remember the incident by. He said: "I've got a scar under my eyebrow that runs the length of my eyebrow. That's when Brian Blessed punched me in the face. I got nine stitches."
Blessed has since revealed that he turned down the chance to play a villain opposite Capaldi in "Doctor Who" because he couldn't face seeing the actor again after the accident. That's not entirely surprising, given that Blessed initially believed he may have killed Capaldi after connecting with him during the fight scene.
Steven Yeun
Before landing the role of Gleen Rhee in "The Walking Dead," Steven Yeun struggled as an actor and even feared that his career may be over. The part brought him to the public's attention, and he portrayed the character from 2010 until 2016, culminating in the outrageous Season 7 death where Negan brutally beat him to death with a baseball bat covered in barbed wire. He has since gone on to have acclaimed roles in the likes of "Minari," "Okja," "Final Space," and "Invincible."
Despite the fact that "The Walking Dead" helped establish Yeun as a star and kickstarted his career, the actor didn't exactly make the best first impression when he arrived on set. Series creator Robert Kirkman revealed to Entertainment Weekly that during the very first scene that Yeun shot for the show, he blacked out from exhaustion. The actor had to sprint for a particular shot over and over again, with the effort eventually causing him to faint on set.
This led to much of the cast and crew teasing Yeun about it throughout his time on the series. Kirkman said: "I guess he didn't anticipate how much running he was going to be doing because we ended up having to do a few takes, and he hadn't eaten anything, so he kind of blacked out on his first day of shooting."
Bob Odenkirk
Like his fellow "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk was probably better known for his comedy work than serious acting before he landed the role of Saul Goodman in the hit AMC drama. However, the part established Odenkirk as a serious actor, leading him to appear in other television shows and films in dramatic roles, such as "Fargo" and "Nobody." Following a two-year gap portraying the criminal lawyer, the actor returned to the world of "Breaking Bad" in 2015 in the spin-off "Better Call Saul."
This show is a prequel that charts the rise of Saul Goodman as well as shows how Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) became involved in Gus Fring's (Giancarlo Esposito) drug empire. During filming for the show's final season in 2021, Odenkirk suddenly collapsed on set and was rushed to hospital after being attended to by medics. It was later revealed that the actor had suffered a heart attack and didn't return to work until two months later.
Odenkirk confirmed that he had been aware of a plaque build-up in his heart since 2018 but didn't have a procedure to remove it. When a piece of plaque broke up, it caused a heart attack that almost killed him. Fortunately, members of the "Better Call Saul" crew were able to start performing CPR on him and establish a regular pulse using an automated defibrillator that was on set.
Han So-hee
Outside of South Korea, Han So-hee is not likely to be a name that many people recognize. However, the young actor has been slowly rising in fame since the late 2010s, with major roles in several popular Korean series. These have included "Money Flower," "Abyss," and "Nevertheless." In 2021, she starred in the Netflix thriller series "My Name" — also known by the title "Undercover" — as a daughter who attempts to exact revenge on those who killed her father by infiltrating a criminal gang. Receiving widespread critical acclaim when it launched, Han's performance was universally praised in reviews.
That performance didn't come easily, though, and the actor had to pay a heavy price just to finish filming the series. Reports emerged in January 2021 that she had been rushed to hospital after fainting during production. At the time, a busy shooting schedule was blamed, with Han said to be exhausted from filming intense action sequences. Unfortunately, the actor also hurt her ribs after landing on them when she passed out.
9ato Entertainment, the talent agency representing Han, later released a statement confirming that she had been hospitalized. "[Han So Hee] suffered a minor injury while filming an action scene," said a spokesperson (via Soompi). "For the actress's safety, filming was halted, and she was taken to the hospital for examination and treatment of her injury."
Alison Arngrim
While Alison Arngrim has gone on to appear in more than a dozen projects throughout her career, she is most closely associated with the role of Nellie Oleson in the NBC western drama "Little House on the Prairie." Arngrim appeared in over 100 episodes of the show between 1974 and 1982, playing a manipulative and spoiled girl, eventually becoming the primary antagonist to Melissa Gilbert's Laura Ingalls in the early seasons.
Filming the show wasn't easy for the young actor, even if it did make her a household name. "Little House on the Prairie" was shot at Simi Valley in California, where temperatures would routinely reach sweltering temperatures during the summer. This posed a problem for Arngrim, especially as she was forced to wear heavy outfits that made her even warmer under the sun's intense heat. "Every summer, I would faint because it was a million degrees where we filmed," she told Yahoo. "I was wearing a dress and petticoats and a wig. It was insanely hot, and I would occasionally pass out."
Despite fainting multiple times on set, the rest of the cast and crew seemingly didn't think it was a major problem. Arngrim recalls that most of the adults simply thought she was being dramatic. That all changed when a young Sean Penn — an extra on an episode — also passed out due to the heat, prompting the adults to make some changes to make life easier for the younger actors.
Jeri Ryan
Jeri Ryan has had an extensive career as an actor, appearing in dozens of films and television series since making her debut in a 1991 episode of "Who's the Boss?" Of course, "Star Trek" fans will remember her for portraying the Borg character Seven of Nine in "Star Trek: Voyager," first appearing in Season 4 and staying as part of the cast until the show's conclusion in 2001. In 2020, Ryan reprised her role in "Star Trek: Picard."
Seven of Nine came into "Star Trek: Voyager" at a time when Paramount was struggling to replicate the success of earlier incarnations of the franchise. Ratings were down and fans were simply not as invested in the series. The introduction of the new character helped drive an increase in viewership due to her popularity, but this came at a personal cost to the actor.
The costume she wore for the character in "Star Trek: Voyager" was incredibly uncomfortable and constrictive, making even moving around difficult. Ryan said to the BBC: "Initially, I would stay in the costume much longer than I ended up staying in it because it takes about twenty minutes to get into." Meanwhile, reports suggest that it was so tight that it stopped her from breathing properly and even led to her passing out four times on set so that medics with oxygen tanks were needed on standby during filming.
Dick York
Dick York began acting in the mid-1940s with a series of appearances in television series and shorts. In the late 1950s, he began to land more significant leading parts, including in the films "Inherit the Wind" and "They Came to Cordura." The latter of these two movies ended up causing an injury that affected York for the rest of his life. While filming a scene involving a railroad handcar, he tore muscles in the right side of his back. This led to him becoming addicted to painkillers and also struggling to work as it was challenging to walk with the injury.
Yet, York was eventually cast in the popular fantasy sitcom "Bewitched" as Darrin Stephens. Accommodations were made to make it easier for him to move on set, with the writers often producing scripts that saw the character sitting down or in bed lying down. Unfortunately, even these measures were not enough to fully protect the actor, who later fell ill during the production of a Season 5 episode.
Suffering from an unknown illness, York suddenly took unwell and pleaded with his co-star to help him down from scaffolding. But he passed out and fell from the structure before he could make it safely to the ground. "He started to help me down and that's the last thing I remember until I woke up on the floor," said York to Bewitched.net. "That's about all I remember of the incident."
Judi Evans
For 40 years, Judi Evans has been a regular figure on television screens across the United States. She made her on-screen debut in 1983 in an episode of "Days of Our Lives" and has since returned to the daytime soap opera several times. She notably portrayed the character Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis in the show before taking over the role of Bonnie Lockhart from Robin Riker. Outside of "Days of Our Lives," Evans also appeared in "Guiding Light" as Beth Raines and also played the character Paulina Cory Carlino in NBC's soap opera "Another World" from 1991 to 1999, appearing in almost 900 episodes.
The actor revealed a behind-the-scenes story on Instagram in 2022 that detailed an injury she received on the set of "Another World." Accompanying a clip that showed a fight between Jake McKinnon (Tom Eplin) and Jamie Frame (Russell Todd). According to Evans, an earlier take of this scene saw Eplin accidentally punch her while swinging for Todd, mainly because of the small size of the set. "Well, on the first take, Tom accidentally clocked me and knocked me out cold," Evans said. "Poor Tom, he felt so bad, I woke up to him crying over me, but it was a total accident!"
James Norton
James Norton is almost certainly best known for his work in the BBC television series "Happy Valley." Starring opposite Sarah Lancashire, he portrayed the antagonist Tommy Lee Royce and won widespread acclaim for his performance in addition to receiving a BAFTA nomination. He has also had starring roles in the likes of "War & Peace" and "Little Women." In 2015, he landed the role of Sir Clifford Chatterley in another BBC project, a television film adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's novel "Lady Chatterley's Lover." Norton appeared alongside "The Borgias" star Holliday Grainger, "Game of Thrones" actor Richard Madden, and Jodie Comer of "Killing Eve" fame.
The actor revealed in 2015 that while filming the television release, he found himself being emotionally and physically drained. During a scene where his character undergoes electric shock treatment, Norton loses his awareness and can't remember exactly what happened. Despite the scary ordeal, the actor could see how the incident could have been useful in the final cut. "The physical thing was quite terrifying — I actually had a weird moment," he told an audience at the show's launch (via HuffPost). "I kind of blacked out at one point and I didn't know where I was. I've never experienced it before."
Aaron Paul
As one of the two protagonists in AMC's "Breaking Bad," Aaron Paul rose to prominence portraying Jesse Pinkman. Even though this was far from his first major role, with the actor having a recurring part in "Big Love" on HBO, it did launch him to stardom. What makes this more impressive is that the character was only intended to appear in the first season before a writer's strike allowed the show's creators to reconsider and make Jesse a permanent fixture in the series.
Over the course of the five seasons of the series, Jesse suffers some very questionable treatment at the hands of those around him. One such example of that came in the Season 2 episode "Grilled," when the crazed Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) viciously attacks Jesse after kidnapping him and Walter White (Bryan Cranston). Revealing on Reddit that he got a concussion while shooting the scene, Paul detailed how he was injured while being shoved through a screen door but that Cruz was unaware and kept attacking him until he eventually lost consciousness.
"Raymond just thought I was acting so he continued and kicked me in the side and picked me up over his shoulder and threw me against the house," Paul said. "The next thing I know I guess I blacked out and I woke up to a flashlight in our eyes and it was our medic."