30 Great Posthumous Performances

The Crow (1994)

The Actor: Brandon Lee as Eric Draven

Rest In Peace: On-set tragedy struck on 31st March 1993, when 28-year-old Lee was mortally wounded by the firing of a prop gun which - unbeknownst to cast and crew - contained an obstruction.

The Legacy: Like his father Bruce with Enter The Dragon (more about which later), Brandon didn't live to enjoy stardom. However, The Crow was completed in his absence and became a box-office-topping hit.

The Misfits (1961)

The Actor: Clark Gable as Guy Langland

Rest In Peace: After suffering a heart attack ten days earlier, the 59-year-old icon suffered a fatal coronary thrombosis on 16th November 1960.

The Legacy: The Misfits is indelibly linked to death for being not only Clark Gable's final performance but also Marilyn Monroe's last completed role. Yet it's a brilliant actors' film and a tough, melancholy Gable (performing his own stunts, perhaps unwisely) holds his own against younger stars Monroe and Montgomery Clift.

Gladiator (2000)

The Actor: Oliver Reed as Promixo

Rest In Peace: Reed was still shooting Gladiator when he suffered a heart attack on location in Malta. He died, aged 61, on 2nd May 1999.

The Legacy: Post-production wizardry helped Scott to complete Reed's scenes following his death. The actor's scene-stealing work was deemed a return to the form of his youth, and earned the actor a posthumous BAFTA nomination.

Soylent Green (1973)

The Actor: Edward G. Robinson as Sol Roth

Rest In Peace: The veteran actor had barely paused in a breathless career that saw him working right up to his death from bladder cancer, aged 79, on 26th January 1973 - just 12 days after wrapping on Soylent Green .

The Legacy: Nobody on set knew that Robinson was terminally ill, but the elegiac power of him playing Roth, an elderly man who can still remember the good old days, resonates throughout the film.

1984 (1984)

The Actor: Richard Burton as O'Brien

Rest In Peace: The great Welsh actor died on 5th August 1984, aged 58, of a brain haemorrhage induced by deteriorating health.

The Legacy: Amazingly, Burton was a last-minute replacement (like James Mason in The Shooting Party ) for the injured Paul Scofield and yet, despite his ill health, he brings all of his gravitas and intensity to the pivotal role of state torturer O'Brien.

Network (1976)

The Actor: Peter Finch as Howard Beale

Rest In Peace: Technically, Finch's performance wasn't posthumous in that Network had already been in U.S. cinemas for two months when the 60 year old died of a heart attack on 14th January 1977. However…

The Legacy: Finch became the first (and, to date, only) man to win a posthumous Best Actor Oscar, two months after his death. Beale's catchphrase - "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more" - remains one of the most quoted lines in Hollywood history.

To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

The Actor: Carole Lombard as Maria Tura

Rest In Peace: While rallying for war bonds, Lombard's plane crashed on 16th January 1942, killing the 33-year-old actress, her mother and the rest of the passengers and crew.

The Legacy: Released two months later, Ernst Lubitsch's classic war-time satire fulfilled a long-term ambition of Lombard to work with the great director. Her classy, sexy, funny performance is arguably her finest.

Enter The Dragon (1973)

The Actor: Bruce Lee as Lee

Rest In Peace: Unstoppable on screen, Lee was defeated in life by an allergic reaction to painkillers on 20th July 1973, aged 32.

The Legacy: Enter The Dragon , Lee's first Hollywood-produced star vehicle, was released six days after his death and belatedly brought him the global audience he deserved.

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Actor: Heath Ledger as The Joker

Rest In Peace: Accidental death caused by prescription drugs on 22nd January 2008, aged 28, after wrapping on The Dark Knight but while still shooting Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus .

The Legacy: Batfans were sceptical of Ledger's casting but his transformative, immersive performance immediately made his Joker one of the great screen villains. A deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor followed, while Gilliam cleverly divided Ledger's role amongst several other actors to ensure that his incomplete final performance could be seen.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

The Actor: James Dean as Jim Stark

Rest In Peace: A landmark in Hollywood history as Dean, on the cusp of stardom, crashed his Porsche on 30th September 1955 and died, aged only 24.

The Legacy: While East Of Eden was released during his lifetime (and would secure Dean his posthumous Oscar nomination for Best Actor), it was his generation-defining role as a misunderstood teenager, released the month after his fatal accident, that made Dean an eternal icon.