The Twilight Zone Helicopter Crash

It's the middle of the night on July 23, 1982, on a movie set in Valencia, California, 30 miles north of Los Angeles.

There's a hive of activity.

Keeping out of the way by the craft service table, 53-year-old actor Vic Morrow sips on a cup of coffee.

He needs the caffeine for these long night shoots, but it isn't helping him calm his anxiety.

As a veteran television actor, Vic knows he can remember his lines, but he's being called to do much more than that.

Tonight, he'll be filming the biggest stunt of his career.

This area is usually home to a quiet, shallow river in the California mountains, but tonight it's been transformed by Hollywood set directors into the jungles of Vietnam.

The film in production is Twilight Zone The Movie, and Vic is playing a racist bigot who finds himself supernaturally transformed into the people that he hates.

Tonight's big scene is when his character redeems himself by rescuing two small children from an American attack during the Vietnam War.

A production assistant tells Vic the crew's almost ready to begin and then leads him to his mark as lighting and pyrotechnic experts make last-minute adjustments.

The air will be filled with explosions as the helicopter flies over Vic, who will be wading through water with two children tucked under his arms.

Vic takes a moment to say hello to his two young co-stars, Micah Din Lee and Renee Sin Yee Chen.

The children are six and seven, and they like Vic.

During last night's scene, they were laughing at him making funny faces between takes.

Now, though, the mood on set is more serious.

The helicopter moves into position for the scene as Vic helps Micah and Renee into the water, which is freezing cold even in the California summer.

Finally, it's time to shoot the scene, and the director, John Landis, gets on his bullhorn as Vic hoists the kids into his arms.

They've only got one take to get it right, and there will be three cameras all shooting at once.

Vic springs to life, hustling through the water with the two children in tow.

It's not easy, especially as Vic and the kids weren't given a chance to rehearse.

And as the helicopter approaches, Vic stumbles and drops Renee.

He slows down to pick her up, but then something goes wrong.

The helicopter loses altitude, spins out of control, and hurls straight into the river and the three actors.

Vic Morrow, Micah Din Lee, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen are all killed by the crashing helicopter.

This is the worst on-set accident in the history of filmmaking.

In the aftermath, some will claim that the incident was unforeseeable, while others will accuse the filmmakers of reckless disregard for safety.

Either way, Hollywood will never be the same after the tragedy on the set of Twilight Zone The Movie on July 23, 1982.

From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day.

On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is July 23rd, 1982, the Twilight Zone helicopter crash.

It's December 1958 in Los Angeles, California, 24 years before the accident onset of Twilight Zone, The Movie.

Eight-year-old John Landis sits in the Crest Theater on Westwood Boulevard, staring up at the big silver screen.

The floor is sticky with spilled soda and the seats are covered in popcorn.

Cigarette smoke drifts through the dark room, but John doesn't notice.

He's been transported to another world.

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad is a Technicolor fantasy adventure film.

Its dialogue is stilted and its story is simple, but as the hero throws a spear at a 50-foot tall one-eyed monster, John is on the edge of his seat.

In fact, he's so entranced that at the end of the movie, he stays in the theater to watch it all over again.

He just can't figure out how it was made, how they film those magic skeletons, genies and dragons.

And that night at home over dinner, John peppers his mom with questions about how they make movies and who's in charge of them.

His mom tells him that someone called a director is the person in charge, and from that moment on, John wants to be one himself.

John gets his start in the film industry working as a mailboy at 20th Century Fox.

From there, he works his way up, taking jobs wherever he can find them, working as an assistant director, and even as a stunt double.

Then finally, 13 years after watching The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, John achieves his childhood dream.

At the age of 21, he writes, directs and stars in his first feature film titled Schlock.

This low-budget movie is shot in less than two weeks, and to save money, John himself wears a gorilla suit to play a prehistoric monster that wreaks comedic havoc through the suburbs of Southern California.

John struggles for years to get Schlock into movie theaters, though, until he gains an unlikely fan, Johnny Carson, host of The Tonight Show.

Carson invites John onto a show and introduces some clips from Schlock to a huge nationwide audience.

This helps the movie finally get a theatrical release in late 1973, and the television appearance puts rocket boosters under John's career as well.

His next project is a wild sketch comedy called The Kentucky Fried Movie.

When it's released in theaters, critics describe it as juvenile and tasteless, but that's exactly what John and the writers were going for, and the movie makes over seven times its production cost.

Now that John has established himself in the low-budget comedy genre, he's offered another script filled with gross-out gags and sexual humor.

But he sees that there's still a good story in it, so he signs on to direct.

As soon as he takes control of the project though, John begins overruling the writers and producers on everything from casting to costumes.

His domineering style causes plenty of friction, but the result changes the course of John's life.

On its release in 1978, National Lampoon's Animal House is a huge hit, grossing over $140 million and becoming one of the most successful comedies of all time.

Suddenly, John can make just about any movie he wants, and it seems everyone in Hollywood now wants to work with him.

As a hotshot new director in town, John becomes friends with another rising star, Steven Spielberg.

The two men are both in their early thirties and bond over the experience of having a breakout movie change their lives.

They also engaged in a friendly rivalry and have cameos in each other's next movies.

John appears in Steven's 1941, and Steven appears in John's film, The Blues Brothers.

But it's John who has the last laugh.

1941 flops at the box office, but The Blues Brothers is another success cementing John's status as a new Hollywood hit maker.

But this doesn't stop John and Steven's friendship from continuing to grow.

And by 1981, they get a chance to produce a movie together.

The Unorthodox Project is a film adaptation of the beloved 1950s sci-fi television show, The Twilight Zone.

The anthology style movie will be divided into four standalone segments.

John, Steven, and two other directors will each take charge of one of the stories.

But this movie, The Twilight Zone, will be another that will change John and Steven's lives, just not for the better.

Instead, the same drive for success that took John to the top of his profession will push his film crew to the edge.

John's friendship with Steven Spielberg will be shattered, and a tragedy on set will lead to the deaths of three actors.

Thank It's July 23rd, 1982, in Valencia, California, a year after John Landis and Steven Spielberg began work on Twilight Zone The Movie.

John is on set getting ready to film an ambitious action scene.

Preparations are nearly finished, but six and seven-year-old child actors, Micah Din Lee and Renee Shin-Yi Chen are napping in their trailer.

It's two in the morning, way past their bedtime.

Legally, they're not even supposed to be here this late.

Special permits are required for such young actors to work after 8:30 p.m., but John and his production team are skirting those child labor laws.

But Micah and Renee's parents don't know the filmmakers are breaking the law, and they don't know why they've been asked by the producers not to tell any of the set's firefighters or safety officers that Micah and Renee will be appearing in the scene.

Instead, they're told to say they're just friends visiting the set.

And when the parents ask the producers if the stunt will be dangerous, they're assured that their kids will be fine.

Micah and Renee's parents are new to show business and have no reason not to believe the producers.

Now, just after two in the morning, a production assistant arrives to wake Micah and Renee and get them to their mark.

Still sleepy, the kids are led toward the river, while the parents are taken to a spot on the side of the hill to watch off camera.

Teams of special effects technicians are standing by.

There will be rockets flying through the air, underwater explosions, and the mock village in the background will be lit on fire.

When all of these different elements are ready, actors Vic Morrow, Micah and Renee wade into the water and Vic hoists them up under his arms.

Finally, director John Landis calls action.

A helicopter flies over the river and the stunt begins.

As the air fills with explosions, John screams through his bullhorn for the helicopter to fly lower, but the special effects operator in charge of detonating the explosions isn't watching the helicopter.

And when he sets a mortar effect off, he doesn't realize the helicopter is right above it.

The explosion strikes the tail rotor and throws the entire helicopter off balance.

The aircraft tilts to one side before then crashing to the ground.

The set falls silent as crew members rush to the downed helicopter.

They're horrified to then discover that Vic and Micah have both been decapitated by the falling helicopter's rotors and Renee has been crushed beneath its landing skid.

A quiet set soon echoes with the gut-wrenching sobs of Micah and Renee's parents who watched it all happen.

A numb John Landis sends the crew home.

Days later, he speaks at the actor Vic Morrow's funeral, but his remarks are not well received by Vic's grieving family.

Many of them blame John for what happened and they don't appreciate John making it sound like his movie is an important piece of art worth dying for.

In the aftermath of this accident, John reworks his segment of Twilight Zone The Movie to edit around the helicopter crash, deleting all the scenes with the child actors, Micah and Renee.

Steven Spielberg, though, wants to cancel the production altogether.

He's eventually convinced to shoot his own segment, but changes it entirely.

His original script was based on the Twilight Zone episode, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, but it would have involved the same components that doomed John's segment.

Extensive night shoots, child actors and special effects.

Not wanting to risk another accident, Steven instead chooses one of the happier and more innocent Twilight Zone episodes to adapt.

That decision is panned by critics.

When Twilight Zone The Movie is released on June 24th, 1983, reviewers call Steven Spielberg's story melodramatic and among the worst productions of his career so far.

John's re-edited segment doesn't get much praise either.

The other two stories in the anthology win more acclaim.

And despite its troubled production, Twilight Zone The Movie is still a mild box office success.

But it's the last time John Landis and Steven Spielberg ever collaborate.

In fact, Steven is so disgusted by John's actions that they never speak again.

Throughout everything, John has refused to publicly accept responsibility for his role in the tragedy, insisting he should not be blamed for what was an unavoidable accident in his eyes.

But that belief will soon be tested.

John and three others on the crew of Twilight Zone The Movie will each be charged with involuntary manslaughter, and a Los Angeles Superior Court will be the setting for a long and bitter trial that will change Hollywood forever.

It's May 30th, 1987, in a courtroom in Los Angeles, California, five years after the deadly helicopter crash on the set of Twilight Zone The Movie.

Director John Landis sits nervously before a judge.

For the last 10 months, John has been on trial for involuntary manslaughter.

If convicted today, he could face up to four years in prison, a disgraceful end to his career as a Hollywood director.

The court has heard evidence from the crew of Twilight Zone The Movie, and from the parents of the two children who died.

They've all painted a picture of a reckless attitude to safety on set, where too little was done to protect those taking part in the production.

John himself has been portrayed as arrogant, uncaring and unwilling to listen to others.

So now as the jury enters, a hush falls over the courtroom.

And for John, time stands still, until the jury foreman announces the verdict, not guilty.

A tremendous feeling of relief surges through John.

It seems the jurors have accepted his defense's argument that the crash was an unforeseeable accident and not the result of negligence.

The three other men accused along with John are also acquitted, including the special effects coordinator, the associate producer and the helicopter pilot.

Despite the acquittals, the accident and the trial that followed it change Hollywood.

Many institutions, including the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the Office of the California Fire Marshal create new onset safety regulations to prevent another tragedy.

And Steven Spielberg himself speaks out against the cult of the director, where people like him and John Landis are given total control over production.

He insists that crew members should be empowered to speak out if they feel corners are being cut or safety is being compromised.

The helicopter crash does not end John Landis' career in Hollywood, but it does mark a turning point.

He never again achieves the commercial success of his early years in the industry.

The shadow of Twilight Zone The Movie will hang over him for decades to come.

But it's the families of the victims who bear a heavier burden.

Vic Morrow's daughter, Jennifer Jason Lee, was only 19 years old when her father died, but she will carry her father's legacy forward with a successful acting career of her own.

The parents of Micah Din Lee and Renee Shin Yi Chen won't be satisfied with the verdict of the court in Los Angeles.

They will pursue John Landis and the other producers for damages, eventually receiving millions of dollars in compensation.

That will be little comfort though in the face of their grief after a deadly helicopter accident on the set of Twilight Zone The Movie took their children from them on July 23, 1982.

Next, on History Daily, July 24, 1911, Hiram Bingham III rediscovers the ancient Inca city of Machapichu in Peru after centuries of abandonment.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily.

Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Mohamed Shahzib.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Music by Throne.

This episode is written and researched by Jack O'Brien.

Edited by Dorian Marina.

Managing producer, Emily Burke.

Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.