and could not handle it.
So Sad.

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I do think the fact that he was tired caused him not to be clear about his thinking. And I think, at one point, they would call this type of death "Death by misadventure" or something.

So he suffered from insomnia and he was over-stressed by work. Maybe that is why he acted irresponsibly.

"No no no. Hexum is to blame here, not the prop department. While the prop department deserves a little of the heat, it was ultimately Hexum's stupid ass decision that took his life. Sounds like stupid to me, no more no less."
I remember when this happened. I did not know at the time that a pistol that fires blanks is still a deadly weapon. I was totally ignorant of that fact.
I think Jon Erik Hexum was ignorant about that too. Sadaly he learned the hard way. Smart people can do incredibly dangerous things due to their ignorance.
On of my cousins has a masters degree. She became very ill from mixing bleach with amonomia to clean her bathroom floor. She had no idea those two cleaning agents produce toxic fumes when mixed together.

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I know that his academic smarts have nothing to do with the accident.
I brought it up in response to those that think he was a stupid, airheaded model. There was a lot more to him than that, and the accident had nothing to do with whether he was intelligent or not.
For those that really don't care, but just want to spew crap about the situation find it a lot easier to just label Jon-Erik as stupid, and blame the accident on said stupidity. There's so much more to the story than that.
Granted, he shouldn't have put the gun to his head, but my bet is he thought he had the never loaded gun that he always carried to act with. He was extremely exhausted when the accident happened. He had a bout of insomnia in addition to being overworked. I think most of us can do something stupid when we're that tired. Heck, when I'm in that state, I won't even drive, for fear that I will get into an accident and kill myself and/or others. Doesn't mean I'm stupid, I'm just exhausted and not thinking clearly.
And yes, the prop department is ultimately to blame. Had that gun not be left out, we'd still have Jon-Erik with us.
Jon-Erik Hexum Remembered: http://jon-erikhexumfans.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=login

While his death is a tragic accident, his studying philosophy in undergrad and being artistically and athletically gifted has NOTHING to do with him tampering with a dangerous weapon unsupervised. You're comparing academic smarts to street smarts. I don't know what he could have been thinking to do such a thing. He obviously misjudged the risk, and that was foolish.
The prop department is ultimately to blame. They shouldn't assume some actors will have enough sense not to operate a firearm unsupervised. That was very stupid on their part and they should have been liable. I would think his family would have had a sound lawsuit against CBS.

Thank you for the support. Then again, I think we think alike on quite a few things when it comes to Jon-Erik! LOL!
Jon-Erik Hexum Remembered: http://jon-erikhexumfans.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=login

Thank you for that comment, I had tried to explain that on another thread, a sheer accident.
G
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Oh, that's a nice reply.
If you do any kind of research on his death, you will find that on any movie or TV set, a loaded gun, including a gun loaded with blanks, is taken away from the actors as soon as the scene is shot, and locked up by the propmaster. The propmaster didn't do his job like he was supposed to do, and the gun was left out.
In scenes where a gun is not discharged, the actors will often work with a gun that is never, ever loaded.
Jon-Erik was extremely tired that day, having suffered from insomnia and had been filming 12-14 hour days. He fell asleep on set during one of the many delays in shooting. He awoke to yet another delay, and was frustrated, needing to catch a plane to Vegas to shoot Circus of the Stars. My guess is that he thought he grabbed the never loaded gun (thinking the loaded gun was locked up), probably made a commment like, "Good Lord, shoot me now," and pulled the trigger. How many of us have done something 111clike that with our fingers making an imitation of a gun? Only the propmaster's incompetence took Jon-Erik's life.
I like his friend, Christie Jenkin's description of that day:
http://christiejenkinsphotography.com/jonerik.htm
He wasn't stupid, nor was he ignorant. The man had studied philosophy in college, was an accomplished pianist and diver, and worked on a career to create artificial organs, before becoming an actor. Labeling him as stupid is a careless and ignorant statement.
Jon-Erik Hexum Remembered: http://jon-erikhexumfans.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=login

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He was messing around playing russian roulette in front of other cast members, not looking for a quiet place to kill himself with intent. The intent is what makes it a suicide or not, and he was not suicial, just stupid.

I'd term it accident. Unless you asume he intended to kill himself (which I personally don't believe at all) it's obvious he probably touched the trigger unintentionally or he really wasn't aware of the danger at that moment, being tired and all. Tragic accident might be the even better 16d0expression.

I don't see how its an accident when he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Seems like attempted suicide to me.

Yes,
accident
seems the best of the terms you've analyzed.
I think
tragic accident
might be more fitting.
I forget who wrote this, but it seems to suit this situation
Of all sad words e'er writ by men,
The saddest are these, "It might have been."

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OR just accidental death. This is a man who had EVERYTHING to live for and was just screwing around andwhoops, what have I done kind of thing. Jennifer O'Neill even chastised him on set (Cover Up) for these same kind of antics some weeks before. Life is preciousyou push the envelope enough nature will recoil and strikeand before you can formulate another thought or bat an eyelash, your veins are filled with strychnine!

I think it would be called "accidental suicide".

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I term it "incredibly stupid"

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