10. A Tragicomic Demise by an Actor’s Sword, in an Overly Enthusiastic Display of Zeal
Jack Budlong, dressed in a Confederate cavalryman’s costume, charged across the “battlefield” on the set of They Died With Their Boots On. He rode headlong, enthusiastically waving his saber while prop explosions went off all around, to simulate enemy artillery rounds. Unfortunately, Budlong’s horse was not trained to deal with the explosions and battlefield chaos and noise. Not sharing its rider’s enthusiasm for battle, it panicked and started bucking. Budlong was thrown off his saddle 15 to 20 feet in the air, resulting in one of the more tragicomic ways of shuffling off the mortal coil.
Budlong landed on and was impaled by his own saber – the one he had insisted on using instead of a prop. It ran him clean through, piercing his abdomen and exiting out his back. Budlong was rushed to an LA hospital, but his injuries were too severe to survive. His demise brought to three the number of deaths during production, making They Died With Their Boots On one of Hollywood’s deadlier film sets. The movie’s name was an apt descriptor of those who lost their lives during filming: dressed up in military costumes when they met their ends, they had literally died with their boots on.