The greatest posthumous movie performances of all time

Despite being an obscure character actor, John Cazale could well be, movie for movie, the most consistently successful performer in Hollywood history. He only appeared in five films, yet all of them were nominated for, or won, the Academy Award for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and, finally, Michael Cimino’s devastating 1978 Vietnam drama, . Oh, and his girlfriend was Meryl Streep.Sadly though, in 1977, Cazale was diagnosed with lung cancer. On March 13 the following year, he died at the age of 42, with Streep at his side. What he left behind was an all-too-brief yet flawless run in a string of blockbuster masterpieces.

After starring in the original Miracle On 34th Street at just eight years old, Natalie Wood reinvented herself as a young adult icon by appearing opposite James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause. Her success continued through the ’60s but plateaued in the ’70s, when she took time off to have children.Wood wanted , a sci-fi drama about a device that can record and play back sensory experiences—including death—to be her comeback role. However, she drowned under mysterious circumstances while on vacation towards the end of filming in November 1981. What she left behind was a fascinating role in a film that’s filled with unanswerable ethical questions on what should and shouldn’t stay in the past.

Between The Monster Club and Cat’s Eye, the early ’80s had a brief obsession with anthology horror movies, and was that movement’s most profitable output. The John Landis- and Steven Spielberg-produced collection featured four short stories, three of which remade classic TV series episodes. The other was directed by Landis and starred Vic Morrow as a racist who’s thrust into the place of Jews in World War II and Black people in the ’50s American South to learn his lesson.In fewer than 20 minutes, Morrow ran the gamut from horrifically casual prejudice to confusion and terror in a dynamic performance. Yet, the role would prove fatal for the former Combat! star. He, along with two child actors, died when a helicopter crashed during filming.

Marketed with the tagline “The year of the movie. The movie of the year,” brought George Orwell’s quintessential dystopian text to theaters in, well, 1984. John Hurt starred as the persecuted and tortured free thinker Winston Smith, who believes that Richard Burton’s O’Brien hates the dictatorial party as much as he does, only for him to be revealed as a spy for the Thought Police.Burton essentially played a double role, first as a sympathetic comrade and then a ruthless interrogator, yet retained a deep-voiced gravitas throughout. The renowned thespian died as the result of a hemorrhage in August 1984, after filming his scenes but two months before his final film premiered.

Ask most people about Orson Welles’ crowning achievement and they’ll point you towards Citizen Kane: a diss track against William Randolph Hearst committed to celluloid and elevated to acclaim by its witty dialogue and ingenious cinematography. Ask a Millennial about Orson Welles’ crowning achievement, though, and they’ll point you towards .The endlessly influential auteur’s final film saw him lend a booming baritone to the planet-eating monstrosity Unicron, who threatens to destroy the benevolent Autobots, evil Decepticons and their home world, Cybertron, alike. Alongside a rich cast of voice actors that included Peter Cullen, Judd Nelson, and Frank Welker, Welles introduced a prestige that the Transformers didn’t necessarily need to make bank, but made the movie a generation-defining piece of childhood nostalgia. The copious amounts of mechanical violence also added to the awesomeness.

It’s one of the most infamous on-set horror stories: towards the end of filming what should have been his star-affirming movie, , Brandon Lee was shot and killed by an improperly prepared prop gun. He was just 28 years old, and his death hauntingly echoed the early passing of his dad, Bruce, 20 years beforehand.Brandon never got to see himself in this starring role, yet his final project became the greatest superhero film of the 1990s. At a time when the genre was box office poison, his performance as a black-hearted avenger helped make The Crow a subversive hit. Equally anguished and gentle, and with a magnetic rock star persona, he’s infinitely rewatchable in this three-decade-old but ever-popular cult classic.

Tupac Shakur ascended to hip-hop godhood during the 1990s. However, a concurrent jab at film stardom repeatedly stalled thanks to his series of legal issues. Although he got to share the screen with Janet Jackson in 1993’s Poetic Justice, his masterpiece didn’t see the light of day until four months after he was murdered.In , Shakur co-starred with Tim Roth, the pair playing heroin-addicted bandmates desperate to get clean, yet whose attempts to enter rehab are constantly thwarted by an apathetic system. Auteur Vondie Curtis-Hall has called the movie an autobiographical story, and the power of the writing and direction certainly communicates that personal significance. This was easily Shakur’s greatest on-screen moment as a result (and it’s one of Roth’s as well).

In , the mentor of Maximus Decimus Meridius, Antonius Proximo, dies in an attempt to help the protagonist escape from Rome and his life in chains. However, the character was originally meant to survive the events of the film. His onscreen death was sadly necessitated by Reed’s own passing, the result of a heart attack during production.Gladiator was dedicated to Reed when it was released in May 2000, and proved a powerful epitaph to an actor playing masterfully against type as a nurturing hero. After all, his other most famous role was as the demented Bill Sikes in Oliver! Rightfully, Reed received a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actor in 2000 in recognition of his work.

You knew he’d be here. In 2006, Heath Ledger, hot off his Oscar-nominated and homophobe-aggravating role in Brokeback Mountain, was announced as the next live-action Joker and the internet shat itself. Comic book purists just couldn’t imagine this romantic pretty boy playing the deranged Clown Prince Of Crime … then he became the new measuring stick for the role.In his penultimate film, Ledger epitomized the anarchy and humor of the Joker at his best (or worst, if you happen to be a caped crusader). He subsequently became hailed as a cornerstone of the greatest superhero movie ever made. However, the actor never got to relish in the adulation, which included him receiving a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as he died due to a medication overdose six months before ’s premiere.

You know James Gandolfini as the star of The Sopranos, the HBO drama that was key in ushering in the era of prestige television and completely reinventing the medium. However, in his penultimate film appearance and first posthumous performance, the actor went intriguingly against type. He played Albert, a relentlessly lovable divorcee smitten with a masseuse that, unbeknownst to him, is best friends with his ex-wife.Nicole Holofcener’s writing and directing elevated among so many of its rom-com peers, making the movie feel tender yet real, and never saccharine. It’s an artful balance absolutely helped by Gandolfini’s hypnotically human acting. Its brilliance is only exacerbated the tragedy of the star dying due to a heart attack at 51 years old.