Top 10 Celebrity Brushes With Death

In 2013, Fisher starred in “Now You See Me,” a caper thriller about a team of illusionists who use their talents to pull off improbable bank heists. In the movie’s opening scene, Fisher’s character is shackled and dunked into a water tank. Unfortunately for Fisher, her chains tangled, and she started banging on the glass in the hopes of alerting someone that the stunt had gone wrong - but everyone believed that she was still acting! Unable to reach the kill switch, Isla was forced to remain calm, and she escaped without injury.

Petra Němcová is a Czech model and television host, known for “Absolutely Fabulous” and TLC’s “A Model Life.” On December 26th, 2004, Němcová was in Thailand with her photographer and fiancé Simon Atlee when a tsunami resulting from the Indian Ocean earthquake struck the country. Atlee tragically drowned, but Němcová survived, despite a broken pelvis and internal injuries. How did she do this? She clung to a palm tree for roughly eight hours until rescue teams arrived to take her to a nearby hospital. Talk about survival instincts.

Stephen King needs no introduction: the horror author’s been scaring us for decades. His writing career and his life almost came to an end on June 19th , 1999 when Bryan Edwin Smith, distracted by his dog in the back seat of his van, struck King, throwing him 14-feet. The author was taken to hospital, where it was revealed that he suffered from a collapsed lung, leg fractures, a laceration on his scalp, and a broken hip. Although the event temporarily convinced King to stop writing due to the pain he suffered from the ordeal, he eventually put pen to paper once again, even incorporating his accident into such works as his “Dark Tower” book series.

On March 6th, 1970, acting legend Dustin Hoffman was riding the acting high from recent successes “The Graduate” and “Midnight Cowboy.” He was living with his wife Anne Byrne in Greenwich Village at the time when a bomb built by a radical left-wing organization known as the Weather Underground prematurely exploded next door. The blast blew a hole into Hoffman’s living room and threw his desk into the charred wreckage of the adjacent building, forcing him out onto the street. Luckily, neither Dustin nor Anne was injured in the explosion, although it left him shaken and his house in ruins.

Jim Caviezel was a rising actor, starring in movies like “The Thin Red Line” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” before he scored the role of Jesus in Mel Gibson’s controversial “The Passion of the Christ.” Unfortunately, the big man upstairs seemed to not care for this casting choice, as Jim was struck by lightning on the set. While Caviezel wasn’t seriously hurt by the strike, eyewitnesses claimed that his head briefly caught fire and smoke floated from his ears immediately following the strike. We’re not superstitious, but that sure sounds like some kind of sign.

While Martin Lawrence has seemingly dropped off the acting map recently, he was a huge comedic star in the mid-90s and early 2000s with roles in “Bad Boys” and “Big Momma’s House,” among others. However, in August 1999, Lawrence went for a run in extremely humid conditions to prepare for his role in the latter film and suffered severe heat exhaustion as a result. He was found passed out on his front lawn wearing many layers of clothing with a 107-degree body temperature, after which he then slipped into a coma. Lawrence suffered kidney problems and was forced to breathe using a ventilator. But he has since made a full recovery and has continued acting.

Funnyman Seth MacFarlane is one busy guy, as he’s given us “Family Guy,” “American Dad!,” and a few live-action comedy movies. However, if it weren’t for alcohol, some of these may have never seen the light of day. MacFarlane was scheduled to be on American Airlines Flight 11, the plane that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11, killing everyone on board. MacFarlane luckily overslept because of his excessive partying the night before and missed the ill-fated flight. We know he’s an atheist, but Seth should certainly feel blessed after that.

After his stint on “Saturday Night Live” and his Emmy nomination for his acclaimed performance on “30 Rock,” Tracy Morgan was traveling in a minibus when it was tragically hit by a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer in 2014. The minibus was struck from behind on the New Jersey Turnpike, killing Morgan’s friend James McNair. Morgan himself was taken to hospitalwith a broken leg, femur, nose, and ribs. He was in a coma for two weeks, and underwent extensive physical therapy for almost a month after being released from the hospital. He revealed on “The Today Show” that he still gets recurring headaches, but he’s back to performing like a trooper.

The same year Harrison Ford was scheduled to return to the big screen as Han Solo in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” he was involved in an aviation accident that nearly cost him his life. On March 5th, 2015, Ford was piloting his 1942 Ryan Aeronautical ST3KR when he encountered surprise engine failure and was forced to make an emergency landing on a golf course in Venice, California. He was rushed to UCLA Medical Center in “fair” condition, though in actuality, it was revealed that he suffered from significant scalp lacerations, a broken pelvis and ankle, among other, smaller injuries. Fortunately, the force is strong with this one.

Before we brush the closest to death with out top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
Johnny Depp
Dragged 25 Yards After Falling Off a Horse
Jaimie Alexander
Chipped 11 Vertebrae
Travis Barker
Survived a Plane Crash
Keith Richards
Fell From a Coconut Tree
Ozzy Osbourne
Crashed His All-Terrain Vehicle

Honestly, we have no idea how 50 survived this one. Perhaps the rap gods were looking down on him that day. In April 2000, 50 was attacked by a gunman outside his grandmother’s former place of residence in South Jamaica. The assailant shot him nine times up close with a 9mm, hitting him in the hand, arm, hip, legs, chest and even in his cheek. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he only spent thirteen days recovering. He was left with a slurred voice and had to use a walker, but after only five months, 50 Cent was back to feeling like a million bucks.

Do you agree with our list? Do you know of any celebrities that came perilously close to death? For more lively top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.