Sean Bean is a British actor who has been in the business for nearly 40 years. He has starred in some of the most popular and acclaimed films and TV shows of all time, such as James Bond, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. He is known for his tough demeanor and piercing performances, but also for something else: his propensity for death.
Bean has become one of Hollywood’s most killable actors, having died in 24 films and TV shows out of his nearly 40 year career. That’s about a quarter of his on-screen catalog. He has met his end in various ways, from throat slashing to drowning to death by cow. His death scenes are usually gruesome, emotional or shocking, and often make a memorable exit for his characters.
Some of his most iconic death scenes include:
– Getting dropped onto a satellite dish and crushed by rubble as Bond villain Alec Trevelyan in GoldenEye (1995).
– Getting shot by multiple arrows as the noble Boromir in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
– Getting beheaded as the honorable Ned Stark in Game of Thrones (2011).
– Getting pushed into a grave and buried alive as the kidnapper Patrick Koster in Don’t Say a Word (2001).
– Getting killed by a cow as the Irish farmer Tadgh McCabe in The Field (1990).
Bean’s reputation for dying on-screen has overshadowed his success as an actor, and has become a source of jokes and memes among fans and media. Some have even tried to rank his deaths by sadness, gruesomeness or frequency. Bean himself has joked about his fate, saying “I’ve died quite a few times to be honest” and “I’ve turned dying into an art form”.
However, Bean has also been seeking out more roles that don’t involve his character dying in recent years. He has also survived some roles that were expected to kill him off, such as in the short-lived series Missing (2012), where he played a spy who faked his death and later reunited with his wife. He has also expressed his preference for some of his death scenes, saying that his favorite one was in Black Death (2010), where he was drawn and quartered.
Sean Bean is a talented and versatile actor who has given many memorable performances in his career. He is not just the man who died a thousand times, but also the man who lived a thousand lives.
Relevant articles:
– Every On-Screen Sean Bean Death, Screen Rant, Mar 26, 2023
– Sean Bean’s 10 Most Iconic Death Scenes, Ranked By Gruesomeness, Collider, Oct 16, 2022
– Sean Bean Reveals His Favorite On-Screen Death, And It’s A Good One, GameSpot, May 4, 2023
– 25 Sean Bean Deaths, Ranked By Sadness, Moviefone, Apr 25, 2023