The world was taken back by the very sudden death of Paul Walker at the end of 2013, only to hit by the sad news of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s drug overdose in early February. Both actors were well liked in their personal lives and had successful careers, similarly they also were working on incomplete projects at the time of their deaths.

hoffman actors who diedHoffman had nearly finished filming all of his scenes for The Hunger Games

Walker had begun filming scenes for the latest movie in the franchise that made him famous, Fast & Furious 7, but still had important scenes left to shoot. Sources have claimed that a large section of the script had to be rewritten in order to continue with the film after Walker’s fatal accident.

Comparably Hoffman had been hard at work filming for the final two installations of The Hunger Games, in which he played co-organiser of the revolution, Plutarch Heavensbee. It has been reported that since the actor’s untimely death Mockingjay Part I and II will still be scheduled for their original release date.

Paul Walker and Philip Seymour-Hoffman aren’t the only actors who have sadly and suddenly passed away whilst in the process of filming a movie. Heath Ledger famously overdosed in 2009 when he was mid-way through filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. To complete the film director Terry Gilliam called in the help of three other Hollywood stars, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell, who filmed the remaining scenes in Ledger's place.  Fortunately, if anything can be labeled so, Ledger had completed his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight, for which he posthumously won an Academy Award.

Blonde bombshell and legendary screen siren Marilyn Monroe ‘overdosed’ while filming Something’s Got to Give in 1962. The movie remains unfinished to this day.

River Phoenix hadn’t completed his scenes in George Sluizer’s Dark Blood when he overdosed in The Viper Room, a club in West Hollywood, back in 1993. Although Phoenix never finished filming, nearly 20 years later, in September 2012, the movie was shown to a private guest audience at the Netherlands Film Festival, as well as further viewings at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Miami International Film Festival in 2013.

heath ledger actors who diedHeath Ledger's death came as a shock to everybody

Oliver Reed suffered a sudden heart attack while filming Gladiator in 1999. The scenes that were not filmed were completed using CGI, computer-generated imagery and in one scene, a mannequin. Oliver Reed, we salute you.

When rising pop star Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001 she had been part-way through filming scenes for the second installment of The Matrix movies, The Matrix Reloaded. Aaliyah was just 22 years old when she died, although she left behind an impressive catalogue of songs as well as having starred in two feature films which she had completed. Aaliyah hadn’t filmed enough scenes for The Matrix Reloaded for the script to be rewritten around her, and her role was recast to Nona Gaye.