Ten Stage Deaths -- Which Were Not Staged Quiz

Answer: Molière

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673), known as Molière, was a French playwright, actor, and director, who dedicated his life to the theater. He is considered one of the greatest French dramatists and the father of modern French comedy.

With his troupe, he settled in Paris under the patronage of King Louis XIV, where his comedies were performed. Among his best-known plays are "The School of Wives", "Tartuffe", and "The Misanthrope". In 1673, while performing the hypochondriac character Argan, from his last play, "The Imaginary Invalid", Molière suffered a coughing fit with a hemorrhage; after this episode he managed to finish his performance, but then fainted and was dead soon after.

Answer: Wallace Hartley

Wallace Henry Hartley (1878-1912) was an English violinist and bandleader. After working in orchestras, he joined a company in the 1910s that supplied musicians to Cunard and White Star Line. In 1912, Hartley was assigned as the bandleader for the RMS Titanic.

Survivors of the shipwreck reported that, after the Titanic collided with the iceberg and began to sink in April 1912, Hartley and his seven colleagues continued to play to calm the passengers. No member of the band survived. No one knows what song the band played last. In the book, "A Night to Remember" by Walter Lord, it is said that Hartley had told a colleague on the "Mauretania" that if he were on a sinking ship he would play "Nearer, My God, to Thee" or "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past". His body and violin were recovered at sea.

Answer: Frank Hayes

Irish trainer and stableman Frank Hayes (1901-1923) first competed as a jockey on June 4, 1923. The steeplechase occurred at the Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, New York. The horse, named Sweet Kiss, crossed the finish line in first place. The surprise came when the horse's owner and race officials approached to congratulate him, and found that the jockey was dead.

Hayes won the race after suffering a fatal heart attack in the last part of the race and his body remained on the saddle. The result of the race was considered valid, and Hayes was the only jockey to win a race after death.

Answer: Leonard Warren

Leonard Warren (1911-1960) was an American opera singer who performed at major opera houses around the world. For over 20 years he performed leading baritone roles, especially in Verdi operas, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

On March 4, 1960, the 49-year-old singer collapsed as he was finishing the second act of Verdi's "La Forza del Destino". According to reporter Sanche De Gramont, Warren had just finished the aria, "O fatal pages of my destiny", when he turned to his left, began his exit, and collapsed. Over the years this piece was considered to bring bad luck, and it is said that Luciano Pavarotti and Franco Corelli performed small rituals before performing it.

Answer: Tommy Cooper

Tommy Cooper (1921-1984) served in the British Army before developing his exceptional skills as a magician and prop comedian. He became internationally known for his participation in television, especially with the programs for "London Weekend Television" (1968 to 1972) and for "Thames Television" (1973 to 1980). From the mid-1970s, Cooper began to drink and smoke excessively, a fact that affected his health and his professional performance. For this reason, he lost work contracts and began to appear only sporadically as a guest.

On April 15, 1984, he had a heart attack while participating in the TV show "Live from Her Majesty's", broadcast from "Her Majesty's Theatre" in London. The people watching the program laughed when he fell backward, thinking it was part of the act. His colleagues at the studio realized something was wrong, and replaced the program with a commercial. Cooper was taken to a hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Answer: Ayrton Senna

The Brazilian Ayrton Senna da Silva (1960-1994) began his successful career as a Formula One driver in 1984. From 1984 to 1994 he was part of the Toleman, Lotus, McLaren, and Williams teams. During this time, he won 41 Grand Prix, was on the podium 81 times, and won the 1988, 1990, and 1991 world championships. Senna was known for his competitiveness, risk-taking boldness, especially when driving in the rain.

The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix held at the Imola Circuit was atypical. On April 29 and 30, several accidents occurred resulting in the death of the Austrian driver, Roland Ratzenberger, and injuries to the driver Rubens Barrichelo. On May 1, 1994, on the seventh lap, while leading the race, Senna crashed into a barrier and died from massive head injuries at the age of 34. The accident was seen live on television by millions of people.

Answer: Anthony Wheeler

The English actor Anthony Wheeler, 26 years old, played the role of Judas Iscariot for more than three seasons in the musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar", in Halkidiki, Greece. In the final scene, Judas hangs himself and the lights go out. Wheeler was supposed to free himself when the lights went out.

Six hundred people, present at this performance in August 1997, had the unpleasant surprise of seeing, when the lights were turned on, the actor dangling from the rope. The police investigation concluded that he had failed to attach the rope correctly and died by strangulation.

Answer: Patrick Sherry

Patrick Sherry (1975-2005) was the lead singer of the UK rock band "Bad Beat Revue". On July 20, 2005, when the band was finishing its performance at the Warehouse in Leeds, UK, Sherry was injured after attempting a spectacular set-closing stage dive. Something went wrong when he fell and hit his head on the dance floor.

According to police information, his injuries were unsurvivable, and his death was considered accidental. The "Guinness Book of World Records" says that this is the first time a musician died from a stage dive.

Answer: Miriam Makeba

South African Zenzile Miriam Makeba (1932-2008), known as Miriam Makeba or Mama Africa, was an actress, singer, and composer of jazz, world music, and Afro-pop. She was also an activist for human rights and against South African apartheid. Her participation in the anti-apartheid film, "Come Back, Africa" (1959), launched her onto the international scene. In the 1960s, Miriam lived in the United States where, with the support of singer Harry Belafonte, she released several albums and songs, the best-known being "Pata Pata" (1967) and received a Grammy for her album "An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba". Throughout her life, she participated in many campaigns, documentaries, and performed in numerous countries.

Miriam Makeba was one of the first African musicians to become known worldwide. On November 9, 2008, while taking part in a concert in Castel Volturno, Italy, in support of writer and journalist Roberto Saviano she suffered a heart attack, and was pronounced dead shortly after. At the concert, she sang her hit "Pata Pata".

Answer: Dawn Brancheau

The American Dawn Brancheau (1969 -2010) graduated with a degree in psychology and animal behavior. She worked in several places before starting her career at SeaWorld Orlando in 1994, where she began working with orcas. She played a major role in the revamping of the "Shamu Show", where she interacted with orcas and was also the poster girl for the marine park in Florida.

On February 24, 2010, when she was finishing her performance in "Dine with Shamu", a show with the large orca Tilikum, she was pulled by the animal to the bottom of the pool and drowned. The body was released by the animal 45 minutes later.