Strange

Actor shot in the head by loaded gun during rehearsal

by Amy Judd | January 21, 2009 at 12:50 pm

852 views | 18 Recommendations | 8 comments

An 81-year old man is recovering in hospital today after he was shot in the head by a fellow actor during rehearsal. The gun was supposed to be a prop, but actually belonged to a fellow cast member and turned out to be loaded.

This happened during the final rehearsal by a senior theatre group, who were putting on John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'.

Actor Fred Kellerman, playing the character of Lenny who is shot in the head at the end of the play, was in reality shot by his fellow cast member, who thought the gun was a prop.

"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 play went on with another actor in the role of Lenny.

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Art_By_Alida

at 15:05 on January 21st, 2009

My daughter has a theatre group in N.Y.

I am going to email her this story so it never happens to them.

TheIdeaCan

at 02:55 on January 22nd, 2009

What I'd really like to know is what a real gun was doing on stage in the first place? Even more importantly, is why was it LOADED with live ammunition? From the damage that the bullet did, it had to have only been a .22 caliber pistol, but that's beside the point. Was the actor that shot him brought up on charges of attempted manslaughter or the stage manager (or whoever was in charge of props) charged with conspiracy to commit murder? It doesn't matter if the actor thought it was a prop gun or not. Both of them relinquished all excuse of naivety by failing to inspect the "prop" correctly before taking the stage. As a maker of prop guns, I understand that the goal of all prop designers is to create a weapon that appears to be an accurate representation of a real or imagined weapon. However, regardless of how real it looks at a distance or up close, if someone were to take five seconds physically handling anything but the best prop guns they would realize that they are fake.

TheIdeaCan has contributed a photo to this story.

Jordan Yerman

at 12:57 on January 21st, 2009

Never mind "checking if it's empty", what were they doing playing with live guns onstage? Real handguns are heavier than they look, and have moving parts. These are glaringly obvious clues that they're... real.

Real = don't point it at your own head and pull the trigger. Ever.

(I was part of a show in which we used a weapon that needed to fire blanks. Before each performance, the gun would be proven empty, and then loaded with a single blank. Even then, it could not be left unattended, nor pointed at a person or any audience member, i.e. only aimed into the aisles. Lots of rules for dealing with guns. Because they can kill people)

Amy Judd

at 15:19 on January 21st, 2009

Yes, good call.

nyctuber

at 16:52 on January 21st, 2009

Holy cow, that guy has a hard skull.

AlvarezGalloso

at 06:32 on January 22nd, 2009

Thanks for bringing this story to the public.

erichews

at 08:08 on January 22nd, 2009

'Lucky' doesn't begin to cover it. 'Ignorant gun-owner,' certainly does. To arrive with a loaded gun exemplifies [for me, at least] the need for EVERY gun-owner to attend and pass a required firearms training program. To NOT know your gun is loaded with live ammo, is the height of negligence. Shaking my head...

And by the way, even prop-blanks can kill. See Jon-Erik Hexum. Sad.

tyfn

at 17:13 on January 22nd, 2009

He is very fortunate. This is how Brandon Lee (son of Bruce) died in 1993 on the set of The Crow when he was shot in the stomach with a real bullet using a gun that was only suppose to have blanks.