8 Stars Whose Lives Were Changed by On-Set Accidents

In the world of Hol­ly­wood, actors often take on roles that push their phys­i­cal and men­tal lim­its. While some scenes are enhanced through spe­cial effects, many stars still choose to per­form their own stunts or take on chal­leng­ing roles that put them at risk. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, not all pro­duc­tions go smooth­ly, and some on-set acci­dents have left last­ing impacts on actors’ lives. Here are eight stars whose careers—and lives—were for­ev­er changed by inci­dents while film­ing.

1. Buddy Ebsen: A Life-Threatening Reaction

Bud­dy Ebsen was orig­i­nal­ly cast as the Tin Man in The Wiz­ard of Oz. How­ev­er, his role was cut short after a severe aller­gic reac­tion to the alu­minum pow­der in his make­up. Just days into film­ing, Ebsen col­lapsed, strug­gling to breathe, and was rushed to the hos­pi­tal. Doc­tors warned that con­tin­u­ing the role could be fatal, forc­ing Ebsen to give up the icon­ic part. His replace­ment, Jack Haley, wore a safer, cream-based make­up. Although Ebsen’s scenes were replaced, his singing voice can still be heard in a few musi­cal num­bers.

Video:

Bud­dy Ebsen’s Near‑D*ath Expe­ri­ence

2. Margaret Qualley: Skin Damage from Heavy Makeup

Mar­garet Qualley’s com­mit­ment to her role in The Sub­stance left her with unex­pect­ed con­se­quences. Wear­ing heavy pros­thet­ics and lay­ers of make­up for a year caused severe acne that per­sist­ed long after film­ing wrapped. Qual­ley shared that the glue and syn­thet­ic skin clogged her pores, mak­ing break­outs relent­less. Even dur­ing her next project, Kinds of Kind­ness, the effects were still vis­i­ble. The crew had to adjust cam­era angles to min­i­mize her skin issues, but with a ded­i­cat­ed skin­care rou­tine, Qual­ley even­tu­al­ly recov­ered.

3. Joseph Gordon-Levitt: A High-Speed Crash

While film­ing Pre­mi­um Rush, Joseph Gor­don-Levitt took on the role of a dar­ing bike mes­sen­ger. Dur­ing a chase scene through New York City, he lost con­trol and crashed through a taxi’s rear win­dow, result­ing in a grue­some arm injury requir­ing 31 stitch­es. Remark­ably, Gor­don-Levitt was back on set the next day, embody­ing the fear­less spir­it of his char­ac­ter.

4. Harrison Ford: The Millennium Falcon Incident

On the set of Star Wars: The Force Awak­ens, Har­ri­son Ford was seri­ous­ly hurt when the hydraulic door of the Mil­len­ni­um Fal­con unex­pect­ed­ly came down, break­ing his leg. Pro­duc­tion was halt­ed, and a safe­ty inves­ti­ga­tion fol­lowed. Dis­ney was fined $2 mil­lion for fail­ing to adhere to prop­er safe­ty pro­to­cols. Despite the injury, Ford returned to com­plete the film after his recov­ery.

Video:

Har­ri­son Ford Explains His Hor­rif­ic Acci­dent On The Set of The Force Awak­ens in June 2014

5. Tom Cruise: A Leap That Broke an Ankle

Tom Cruise’s ded­i­ca­tion to authen­tic­i­ty in Mis­sion: Impos­si­ble – Fall­out led to a painful mishap. While per­form­ing a rooftop jump, he mis­cal­cu­lat­ed the land­ing, break­ing his ankle. Instead of stop­ping, Cruise pow­ered through the take, and the footage made it into the final cut. Pro­duc­tion paused to let him heal, but the scene remains a tes­ta­ment to his relent­less com­mit­ment.

6. Margot Robbie: Ice Skating Gone Wrong

To accu­rate­ly por­tray Tonya Hard­ing in I, Tonya, Mar­got Rob­bie trained rig­or­ous­ly in fig­ure skat­ing. The phys­i­cal demands left her with tin­gling arms, per­sis­tent pain, and even­tu­al­ly a her­ni­at­ed disc. Despite the injury, Rob­bie remained com­mit­ted to the role, bal­anc­ing recov­ery with per­for­mance.

7. Natalie Portman: Pushing Through the Pain

While film­ing Black Swan, Natal­ie Port­man dis­lo­cat­ed a rib dur­ing a dance lift. With no medic on set, she con­tin­ued per­form­ing despite the pain. Lat­er, as the ther­a­pist worked on her injury, direc­tor Dar­ren Aronof­sky kept the cam­eras rolling, cap­tur­ing Portman’s raw deter­mi­na­tion and the real­i­ty of her suf­fer­ing.

8. Colin Firth: The Role That Affected His Body

Col­in Firth’s por­tray­al of King George VI in The King’s Speech was so immer­sive that it left him phys­i­cal­ly affect­ed. Train­ing to mim­ic a stam­mer com­pressed a nerve, caus­ing his left arm to go numb for days. Even when film­ing end­ed, the role’s phys­i­cal strain lin­gered.

Actors often go to great lengths to bring their char­ac­ters to life, but some­times those efforts come at a cost. These on-set acci­dents not only changed the lives of these stars but also high­light­ed the risks that come with artis­tic ded­i­ca­tion.