Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: Difference between revisions

* A [[Real Life]] tragedy without the malice. On October 12, 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum was filming a scene for the CBS TV series ''Cover Up''. In the scene, he had a .44 magnum revolver loaded with blanks. After several takes, filming of the scene was delayed. As the cast and crew became more annoyed, Hexum decided to relieve the tension by performing a little joke. He grabbed the prop gun, put it to his temple and squeezed off a round. (People on the set later said that they believed that Hexum had assumed that the prop master had unloaded the gun between takes.) The blank -- whichblank—which was made up of a standard bullet casing and a standard powder charge, but with a "projectile" that had the consistency of a piece of blackboard chalk -- crushedchalk—crushed Hexum's temple. The blunt-force trauma was similar to that of being hit by a baseball bat swung by the hardest-hitting Major League-level home run slugger. Six days later, the 26-year-old actor was declared brain dead and, following to the wishes of his mother, his organs were harvested for transplant.