He was killed early in the production of the TV film
World War III (1982) in a
helicopter accident in Oregon. He had just returned from filming aerial
shots, his helicopter landing in the parking lot of the Timberline
lodge on Mt. Hood (the exteriors location from
द शाइनिंग (1980)). Preoccupied
with his work, he inadvertently turned the wrong way upon getting out
of the helicopter, walking directly into the rear rotor blade; he died
of severe head and shoulder injuries after emergency surgery 60 miles
away in Portland. Astonishingly, filming resumed the very next day with
a new director.
