Actor shot in the head with gun that was supposed to be unloaded.

[str8shooter]

Rule number 1: Always assume a gun is loaded until you have personally verified it is not.

Rule number 2: Always obey rule number 1.

Actor Shot in the Head During Dress Rehearsal

BRADENTON, Fla. - An 81-year-old actor is recovering after being accidentally shot during a dress rehearsal with a gun that was supposed to be empty.

The incident happened Sunday on the final practice run by a seniors theater group for their production of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."

One actor picked up a pistol he had borrowed from another cast member and fired it at the head of fellow actor Fred Kellerman, who was playing the character Lenny. At the end of the play, Lenny takes a fatal gunshot to the head.

"I heard a loud bang. I knew something was wrong. But I never passed out," Kellerman told The Bradenton Herald.

He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Kellerman said doctors determined the bullet tore into his skull, ricocheted off bone, then came back out and tore off a piece of his ear, the Herald reported. Doctors sewed the piece of ear back on, Kellerman said.

"It took a chunk off my ear, but I was told it will grow together. I really feel no pain," he told the newspaper. "I was really lucky."

The gun was supplied by a member of the Sarasota Senior Theater group, Bradenton police said. The group had used the gun in the past as a prop, but the member told police she did not check to see if the gun was loaded when she brought it for the show Sunday.

The actor who pulled the trigger, who is also the president of the group and the play's director, told police "it was stupid" not to check to make sure the gun was empty.

Just two hours after the shooting, the play went on as scheduled with another actor performing Kellerman's part.

Kellerman says he isn't angry about the mishap. He plans to be back at rehearsal Friday for a musical the group is putting on next month

No charges have been filed, but the shooting is still under investigation.

[TaePo]

What about using a PROP gun that can only fire blanks??

Second, it is normally followed to use angles against the audience so it looks like the weapon is pointed at the actor but is actually several inches to the side. Even blanks can kill or maim.

[625]

Rule number 1: Always assume a gun is loaded until you have personally verified it is not.

Even then, treat the gun as if it were loaded.

Kellerman says he isn't angry about the mishap.

Yea, because it's partly your fault. Why would you let anyone point a gun at your head without checking if it's loaded first? Fools are sometimes the luckiest among us.

[ungawa]

Next week those crazy old farts are starting rehearsal for their production of "Saving Private Ryan." The same lady promises to bring a few crates her deceased husband brought back from Europe.

[Lady Beretta]

Oh man, that kind of stuff I just don't get. A real gun in a theater group of elderly?? WTF.

[adymond]

Is it bad if I started to think "wouldn't it be ironic if it were . . . " or is that okay?

I guess I will take a one way ticket down.

[Autonomous]

What about using a PROP gun that can only fire blanks??

Second, it is normally followed to use angles against the audience so it looks like the weapon is pointed at the actor but is actually several inches to the side. Even blanks can kill or maim.

Oh man, that kind of stuff I just don't get. A real gun in a theater group of elderly?? WTF.

So I wonder if this was not a costly way to cut down on the cost of the performace. It could be that they were using this firearm cause someone had it and it was cheaper than renting a prop. Them Prop guns can be costly...(given not as costly as a dead person)....
That is not an excuse. If a company is gonna try and cut costs (hell use firearms at all) they should have some one from the prop department dedicated to the care and safe handling of said firearms.

Oddly enough when my GF was working for a opera co. in Miami I went to see 'Daughter of the Regiment". There was this one guy in the chorus who kept sweeping the audience with his rifle. At intermission, when my GF came out from back stage to check on me, I complained about that idiot..she rolled her eyes and told me that apparently the dude had been talked to about it...glad I wasn't the only one to notice...
So yea they should use angles. But on for many of the smaller company's they just dangerously wing it.
Glad that 80 year old man is going to be OK...
-A

[viva la ben]

Jon-Erik Hexum
was an actor from one of my favorite shows of the 80's "Voyagers!"
He died when he placed a .44 magnum loaded with blanks to his temple and pulled the trigger.

[headcase]

Brandon Lee anyone???