ACTORS | INJURIES | L.O.T.R. | LISTS

8 Actors Injured While Filming Lord of the Rings

Here are some actors who were hurt during the filming of the epic series

Joe Ross , CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Workplaces can be dangerous. According to OSHA, over 3 million people are injured every year at work in the United States.

Of course, being on a film set can be dangerous. There are plenty of pieces of heavy equipment, often in motion. Actors and stunt men run, jump, and fight causing occasional falls and injuries.

In the past, I have written articles about the injuries, sometimes even death, that occurs on movie sets around the world. I have linked those articles at the bottom of this one.

In researching the injuries, I noticed quite a few of them happened during the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This is not surprising. There were a lot of epic battle scenes, swinging of weapons, and running from enemies happening during those movies.

Here is a list of injuries that I found in researching this article. Most were minor, but some were painful. Thankfully, there were no deaths on the sets of the movies.

Here is a list of eight actors injured during the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

1. Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)

Viggo Mortensen who played Aragorn also known as Strider was one of the main heroes of the epic tale.

He was in many fight scenes and that took a toll on his body.

He chipped a tooth during a battle scene but had the props department glue in back in place so he could continue with the scene.

He almost drowned during the scene where he was being swept away by water. He broke two toes while kicking a helmet during another scene.

He also had a black eye during some of the filming but that was not caused on the set. He got that surfing during a break.

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2. Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee)

During the filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee runs into a river to follow Frodo. They were filming at Lake Mavora in New Zealand when he stepped on a piece of glass.

Even though he was wearing a prosthetic hobbit foot, the glass went through the prosthetic and sliced his foot. The wound required stitches. But Astin is a professional and they used the scene in the movie.

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3. Dominic Monaghan (Merry)

Dominic Monaghan who played the hobbit Merry hurt his foot while running during the Buckleberry Ferry escape scene during The Fellowship of the Ring. In the scene, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin ran to a ferry to escape the Black Rider.

Monaghan was in a lot of pain, and the crew was concerned he had a major injury. It turned out to be a large, wooden splinter lodged in the sole of his foot. Once it was removed, he recovered quickly.

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4. Orlando Bloom (Legolas)

During the filming of The Two Towers, Orlando Bloom, playing Legolas, fell off a horse and cracked a rib. They were filming the chase across the plains of Rohan.

While on the ground, Gimli’s double fell on him which either cracked the rib or worsened the problem. But Bloom simply got up, got back on the horse, and continued the scene.

The injury would cause him pain for the rest of the movie.

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5. Brett Beattie (Gimli’s Stunt Double)

During the same chase scene in The Two Towers that injured Orlando Broom, Brett Beattie, a stunt double for Gimli, was also injured.

While running, he dislocated his knee. The injury was bad enough to require surgery when the filming was done.

6. Bernard Hill (Théoden)

As Théoden, Bernard Hill hurts himself a couple of times during the intense Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers. During a fight scene, he fractured his sternum after a blow to his chest.

After that, his ear was also cut by a sword. That one was accidentally self-inflicted, however.

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7. Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins)

While filming the scene in Return of the King where Frodo, played by Elijah Wood, is stabbed by the giant spider Shelob, the wood prop used as the stinger actually hit Wood hard in the chest.

The injury caused enough pain and discomfort that medical attention was required. It took Wood a couple of days away from the set to recover from his injury.

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8. Ian Mckellan (Gandalf)

This wasn’t really an injury, but I included it on this list because it was funny.

The scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf is in Bilbo’s tiny hobbit house, he bumps his head on a beam. This wasn’t scripted, but Ian Mckellan, who played Gandalf, incorporated it so well in the scene that the director used that clip for the movie.

It kind of reminded me of the scene in Star Wars where the stormtrooper accidentally bumped his head on the door, and they kept it in the movie.

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The chase scene in Two Towers where they were running injured three of the above actors. So many of the actors did their own stunts and action scenes that it created a fairly dangerous work environment for them.

But for many actors, it is a small sacrifice to make to get to do what they love for a living.

As promised, here are the others lists I made that are similar to this: 10 Actors Who Were Injured on the Set Tragic Endings: 14 Actors Who Died During the Filming of a Movie

As always, thanks for reading!

If you like my listicles, you can find the complete list of them here, organized by subject: The Unabridged List of All of my Listicles

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