Anecdotes

Both male leads died young. Jon-Erik Hexum died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound on October 18, 1984, at age 26. Antony Hamilton died of AIDS-related pneumonia on March 29, 1995, at the age of 42.

On October 12, 1984, while crew was preparing the final day's scene of a very long filming schedule, Jon-Erik Hexum took his usual break and decided to stay on the bed, where he practiced loading blanks into a revolver on a night stand. The prop master assistant talked with Hexum as he held the pistol in his hand, spinning the cartridge, acting as if he was planning a game of Russian Roulette. The UPM came into the set and announced an additional scene. This came unexpected, because the filming crew had been very lucky with all of the day's scheduled scenes, and they were looking forward to finishing early. Immediately after the announcement, Hexum intended to pull a little prank: As he was handing the gun to the assistant prop master, he suddenly pulled the gun back, pointed it at his temple, said "Oh well, what the Hell!", and pulled the trigger. The pistol fired, and the force from the blank cartridge wadding shattered his skull. The special effects foreman ran onto the set to treat Hexum's wound, and the actor was placed onto an emergency wood stretcher, loaded into a studio station wagon, and rushed through the studio gate and across the street to Century City Hospital's Emergency Room. Hexum was declared brain-dead on October 18, 1984. He was removed from life support, and his organs were harvested for transplant. The filming crew never fully recovered from the loss of their star and friend.

Coincidentally, two years before Jon-Erik Hexum's tragic incident, his co-star Jennifer O'Neill suffered from an accidental self-inflicted gun shot wound in 1982. While in her home, she was checking to see if a .38 pistol was loaded when the weapon discharged into her abdomen. She was transported to the hospital where she underwent surgery, and went on to make a full recovery.

As of 2023, Jennifer O'Neill is the last living main cast member of this show. Hexum's replacement Antony Hamilton succumbed to AIDS-related pneumonia in 1995 and Richard Anderson passed away in 2017.