The Babylon 5 "Curse"

[Janus]

I just read this on "Everything2.com" and yikes. So here it is, the death list of Babylon 5 cast members:
I'm not superstitious and I don't think Babylon 5 is cursed, but is there any other show like this that you know of?
Main Cast

Actor Character Cause of Death Date & Age
Richard Biggs Dr. Stephen Franklin Aortic Dissection May 22, 2004 (aged 44)
Andreas Katsulas Ambassador G'Kar Lung Cancer February 13, 2006 (aged 59)
Jeff Conaway Zack Allan Pneumonia May 27, 2011 (aged 60)
Michael O'Hare Jeffrey Sinclair Heart Attack September 28, 2012 (aged 60)
Jerry Doyle Michael Garibaldi Complications of Alcoholism July 27, 2016 (aged 60)
Stephen Furst Vir Cotto Complications of Diabetes June 16, 2017 (aged 63)
Mira Furlan Ambassador Delenn West Nile Virus January 20, 2021 (aged 65)
Recurring Guest StarsActor Character Cause of Death Date & Age
Tim Choate Zathras Traffic Accident September 24, 2004 (aged 49)

 

[Frumple]

Like... not off the top of my head, but the show ended in '98. That was 26 years ago. Barring actors under the age of majority, the youngest person that worked on that thing would be in their mid forties. Anyone over 24 at the time would now be in their fifties.

I'd wager most shows from the 90s, nevermind earlier, have a cast mortality list that looks similar. Most of those noted in your post were in their late 50s and 60s, which is a little young for keeling over, but not, like, some kind of huge surprise, either. We're hitting the point for shows from that era that cast die off is just kinda' normal.

Other than the traffic accident (maybe, depending on if they were the ones driving or not), all of those seem to be fairly standard "got older" deaths.

 

[Kuja]

There's an infamous film. 'The Conqueror.' It was a passion project of John Wayne. It sucked - not least because it was John Wayne trying to portray Ghengis Khan. Besides being infamous for sucking, The Conqueror acquired a particularly scandalous reputation after Wayne died of cancer. See, The Conqueror was shot in the Nevada desert, in the same region where nuclear tests had been conducted, and thanks to some (literal) tabloid journalism and conspiracymongering the death of Wayne and the deaths by cancer of a number of others from the film's cast and crew were hysterically linked to radiation poisoning. Nevermind that The Conqueror was filmed in 1956 and Wayne died in 1979 (aged 72), or that Wayne was notoriously a 5-pack-a-day smoker.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghQM1Een2Og

If you have a half hour of free time, grab a drink and watch Kyle Hill's video on the matter, it's really something to watch him dive into to history.

...

But all of this is to say, curses are bullshit. Although 'Hollywood cast & crew' isn't thought of as particularly dangerous career work the way firefighter or lumberjack is, actors have historically gone through some serious bullshit, from long working hours to hazardous working conditions with fire and cold water and (noteworthy for a scifi show) costumes that constrict or overheat their wearers. Godzilla actors famously had sweat pouring out of their suits at the end of their working days, and lost significant weight during shoots. Even today Hollywood actors are routinely put on some absurd caloric requirements and workout regimens so that women stay thin and dudes look chiseled. Voice actor Scott McNeil described fainting in the soundproof booth from the heat after long recording sessions for DBZ.

And this stuff adds up. Even leaving aside that as human beings get up in years stuff starts breaking down, stage & screen & voice actors go through some nonsense (even after the steps taken to reduce health hazards) and eventually the time comes to pay the piper. Never mind that if you live long enough some kind of cancer or organ failure or disease will take you out eventually.

EDIT: I meant to go a bit into a wider spiel on 'curses are bullshit' like the curse of Tutankhamun, but the short version is just more of the above. People die in car accidents all the time because cars are kind of bullshit. People die because they push themselves too hard in their younger years and it catches up. People die of disease and cancer because eventually the odds are sufficiently against you that your body just keels over. People die, man.

 

[Janus]

But all of this is to say, curses are bullshit.

Click to shrink...

True. I'm less trying to draw conclusions about Babylon 5 having a curse and more just kind of saying "Wow that sucks so many people died already" who worked on teh show.

 

[Kitsune]

As far as car accidents and Tutankhamen. car accidents were far more deadly in the past. I hear people cry about modern cars being far less tough than old vehicles but they are far more likely to keep you alive.