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Have your tissues ready. Join us as we look at some of the most heartbreaking scenes ever captured on film — performed by actors who knew they were facing their own mortality. Our list includes performances from Walter Matthau, Chadwick Boseman, Robin Williams, John Wayne, Vincent Price, and more. Which of these deeply moving performances touched you the most? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow.
00:02How exciting.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at scenes starring actors who are aware of their impending mortality.
00:08Some major plot events will be discussed, so a spoiler warning is now in effect.
00:12I'm sorry.
00:14I don't remember any of it.
00:18June Allison, Walter Matthau, hanging up.
00:20Oh, please, tell me and give me peace.
00:23I know this is short-long actress.
00:25June Allison.
00:32After slipping into a coma, curmudgeonly, Lou Mazel, briefly wakes as his daughters sit beside him trying to remember the
00:38name of an old movie star.
00:39He says June Allison, and then he's gone.
00:41That's what makes it devastating, as Meg Ryan's character spends the movie trying to remember Allison's name.
00:45You know, for weeks I've been trying to remember the name of the short, blonde actress from the 50s, or
00:51maybe it was the 40s.
00:53What about Vera Ellen?
00:53Thin hair, no, very thin hair.
00:55Oh, Donna Reed.
00:56No, not Donna Reed.
00:57Donna Reed wasn't short or blonde.
00:59Doris Day, Doris Day, Doris Day, Doris Day, I'm right about this.
01:01Cleo.
01:03The scene hits even harder in hindsight because this was Walter Matthau's final film role.
01:07By then, the legendary actor had already battled years of serious health problems, and he died only months after the
01:12movie's release.
01:13That gives Lou's final utterance an eerie double meaning.
01:15It plays not just like the end of a character, but like the fading out of the Oscar winner himself.
01:19See, I love all my beautiful, beautiful girls.
01:26Evening.
01:27It's right, evening.
01:30Look how beautiful you are in the snow.
01:37That's my good name.
01:39Good Night, Hawk.
01:40Catherine E. Colson.
01:41Twin Peaks.
01:42Margaret, what can I do for you?
01:45Hawk.
01:46Hawk.
01:50I'm dying.
01:56I'm sorry, Margaret.
01:58After its unceremonious cancellation in the early 90s, Twin Peaks fans thought they'd never get a chance to say goodbye
02:03to their favorite characters.
02:04The return put those fears to rest.
02:06You know about death.
02:10That it's just a change.
02:14Not an end.
02:20Hawk.
02:25It's time.
02:27Catherine Colson's final scene as the log lady is almost impossible to separate from real life.
02:31Margaret calls Hawk, tells him plainly that she's dying, and closes with a simple, heartbreaking goodbye.
02:36Good Night, Hawk.
02:37Good Night, Hawk.
02:38It's already a powerful scene on its own, but it becomes devastating when you know Colson herself was terminally ill
02:43during filming.
02:44She died of complications from cancer in September 2015, after shooting her scenes for the revival shortly before her death.
02:50Goodbye, Margaret.
02:51Leaves from the Vine.
02:52Mako.
02:53Avatar The Last Airbender.
02:54Happy birthday, my son.
02:58If only I could have helped you.
03:01Leaves from the Vine devastates because it feels like grief in its gentlest form.
03:05Iro quietly honors his late son, Lu Ten, singing a tender little song that manages to say everything about love,
03:10memory, and the pain of surviving someone you never stop missing.
03:13After Mako's death from esophageal cancer in 2006, and with the episode dedicated to him, the scene took on an
03:19even deeper resonance.
03:20Leaves from the Vine, falling so slow, like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam.
03:33The series itself essentially takes a moment to mourn the legendary actor, whose voice gave Iroh so much warmth, wisdom,
03:38and soul, with a poignant swan song.
03:41Somebody Passed the Kleenex.
03:42Little soldier boy, come marching home.
03:47A Magic Wand.
03:49Jack Lemmon, Tuesdays with Maury.
03:50It's a weird thought.
03:52It's a good thought.
03:5520 more hours.
04:03Care to share it with the world?
04:05This TV movie chronicles a former student reconnecting with his dying college professor for a series of conversations about life,
04:11love, regret, and how to face death with grace.
04:13When Hank Azaria's Mitch album asks Jack Lemmon's Maury what he'd do if a magic wand made him healthy again,
04:19Maury's answer is thoughtful rather than eager, revealing how deeply illness has changed his understanding of life.
04:24I'd have a lovely breakfast, sweet rolls and tea, and a good swim.
04:32I'd ask my friends for lunch, great lunch, you know, but a salad or something simple.
04:40And then we'd take a walk in a park, you know, with trees so we could watch the birds.
04:45Sadly, the Oscar winner had died of complications from cancer in June 2001, not long after giving one of his
04:51last great performances.
04:52The real-life Mitch album later wrote that while filming, Lemmon kept asking deeply personal questions about how Maury approached
04:58death.
04:59After the 76-year-old Lemmon's passing, album realized he had likely been asking for himself.
05:03Oh, I'd dance with my, my lovely partners till I was exhausted.
05:12There you go, have a great sleep.
05:19That's it, that's your perfect day, huh?
05:21Yeah.
05:22Sounds pretty simple.
05:24Smile, my boy.
05:25Robin Williams, Night at the Museum, Secret of the Tomb.
05:27I guess this is it.
05:29Indeed.
05:30And I know young Nick will do great things.
05:34Yeah, he's, uh, ready to take on the world all by himself.
05:40Then you've done your job.
05:43You've done your job.
05:47It's time for your next adventure.
05:49In Night at the Museum, Secret of the Tomb, Robin Williams gets one of the gentlest goodbyes of his career.
05:55It's sunrise.
06:03It's a simple line, but Williams delivers it with such warmth and calm that it feels like more than just
06:07a character exit.
06:08It becomes even sadder in hindsight because Williams had already been misdiagnosed with Parkinson's disease by that point.
06:14And he knew he was facing a serious neurological decline.
06:17Director Sean Levy later said Williams was struggling during filming in ways he never had before, especially with memory and
06:23lines.
06:23As such, Williams-Teddy Roosevelt sign-off offers comfort.
06:26But it also feels like Robin Williams already confronting his own illness, leaving audiences with one last note of kindness
06:32and grace.
06:33Bye, Teddy.
06:35Farewell, Lawrence.
06:43Boo!
06:44No!
06:45Ha ha ha!
06:46Got you!
06:48Smile, my boy.
06:51It's sunrise.
06:53Nocturne.
06:54John Kazal, the deer hunter.
06:55Say to the heart of the righteous of Christ.
07:00Watch it to Jesus through the gold poles tonight.
07:06The silence says what nobody can.
07:08They all seem to feel that this is the end of something.
07:10In ways both onscreen and off, it is.
07:12John Kazal, who plays Stan, was terminally ill with lung cancer while filming.
07:27His scenes were shot first because he was so sick.
07:29The studio reportedly wanted him out because he was hard to insure.
07:32Co-star Robert De Niro helped make sure he stayed in the movie.
07:35Kazal died in March 1978 at just 42, before the film ever reached theaters, which gives the whole moment a
07:40devastating second layer.
07:56It was Tuesday.
07:57Raul Julia, street fight.
07:58It was 20 years ago.
08:01You hadn't promoted yourself to general yet.
08:05You were just a petty drug lord.
08:09Hmph.
08:10You and your gang of murderers gathered your small ounce of courage to raid across the border for food, weapons.
08:18Julia gives this line this effortless, aristocratic cruelty that completely steals the scene.
08:23It becomes even more powerful in hindsight because he was seriously ill while filming, battling the stomach cancer that would
08:28claim his life in the year of Street Fighter's release.
08:30Despite this period of declining health, Julia still took the bison role, partly because his children were fans of the
08:36game and helped him prepare for the role.
08:38Of course!
08:38That makes the performance weirdly moving.
08:41Beneath all the camp and bombast, you're watching a great actor in his final major film role.
08:45Street Fighter may have been a critical flop, but Julia's performance outlived the movie's reputation.
08:49I don't remember any of it.
08:52You don't remember?
08:54For you, the day bison graced your village was the most important day of your life.
09:05But for me, it was Tuesday.
09:09Levy got to be Levy.
09:10Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
09:13The world was collectively stunned and devastated when Chadwick Boseman passed away, following a private battle with colon cancer at
09:19age 43.
09:20In his final film performance, based on the August Wilson play, Boseman plays Levy Green, an ambitious trumpeter.
09:26Cutler, this here and my nephew Sylvester, he gonna do the voice intro on that Black Bottom song using the
09:30old version.
09:31What you talking about?
09:32Mr. Irving said we're using my words.
09:33Levy, I'm studying you, Mr. Irving.
09:34While Levy didn't actually exist, that doesn't detract from the power of moments like this one.
09:39I studied Dwight, man.
09:40I got him studied good.
09:41First time one fixes on me wrong.
09:43I'm gonna show him just how much I studied.
09:45After being teased by his fellow musicians for his supposed subservience, he launches into a furious monologue about unspeakable trauma.
09:52Oh, come on, Levy.
09:53We was all just having fun.
09:55Jolito ain't said nothing about you.
09:56He ain't said about me.
09:57You just taking it all wrong.
09:58I ain't meant nothing by Levy.
10:00Levy got to be Levy.
10:02And he don't need nobody messing with him about the white.
10:06She don't know nothing about me.
10:08You don't know, Levy.
10:09You don't know nothing about what kind of blood I got.
10:11The camera stays on Bozeman as he recounts this horrifying ordeal and the brutal fallout.
10:15In one haunting speech, we have a deeper understanding of both Levy as a character
10:19and an even greater appreciation for Bozeman and his immense talent.
10:23I can smile and say yes, sir, to whoever I please.
10:26I got my time coming to me.
10:31Y'all just leave Levy alone about the white man.
10:34I'll try to mend my ways.
10:36Ingrid Bergman, Autumn Sonata.
10:37Few filmmakers have examined the complexities of life and death quite like Ingmar Bergman.
10:42And knowing that Ingrid Bergman, no relation, had been contending with breast cancer for several
10:46years adds further pathos to her final theatrical film performance.
10:50Do you think you've changed so much in the last years that we haven't seen each other?
10:53I think that's exactly what you've changed.
10:55I've changed my hair, of course.
10:57You don't want to see my gray hair in.
10:59Bergman plays Charlotte, an acclaimed pianist who reconnects with her estranged daughter,
11:03Ava, and is forced to confront the ramifications of her decisions, including the institutionalization
11:08of her youngest daughter, Helena.
11:10Ava tells her directly of the hurt she's caused through her willful neglect.
11:14You mean, not half.
11:16When Helena was one year old, you gave her.
11:28A heartbroken Charlotte vows to change, but they both know it's likely too little too late.
11:47While there's much dislike about Charlotte, Bergman's brilliant work here captures the pain
11:51of no longer being able to run from your past.
12:01A few personal statements.
12:03Spencer Tracy, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
12:05As one of the first Hollywood movies to positively depict interracial relationships,
12:09Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is inherently a significant work.
12:12Because, you see, John has to fly to New York tonight to see a friend of his at Columbia
12:15University, and then tomorrow night he's flying to Geneva to do three months' work for the
12:20World Health Organization.
12:21And what I intend to do is fly to Geneva next week so that we can be married.
12:25And that's the whole situation.
12:28In a nutshell.
12:30However, if there's one moment that'll stay with you, it's this.
12:33Patriarch Matt Drayton, played by Spencer Tracy, candidly voices the gamut of feelings
12:38he's had to process following his daughter's engagement to Sidney Poitier's doctor.
12:42This has been a very strange day.
12:44I don't think that's putting it too strongly.
12:46I might even say it's been an extraordinary day.
12:49I've been out there thinking about the day and the way it has gone.
12:54And it seems to me that now I need to make a few personal statements.
13:00Speaking to his family and future in-laws, Tracy gives Matt's monologue the dignity and
13:05unshowy consideration for which he was renowned.
13:07I admit that I hadn't considered it, hadn't even thought about it.
13:12But I know exactly how he feels about her.
13:16And there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that your son feels for my daughter that I
13:23didn't feel for Christina.
13:24Tracy was in poor health at the time of filming and would pass away soon after filming rap.
13:28But he went out on an incredible high note with a timeless ode to the power of love in
13:32a world that can feel overwhelmed by hate.
13:34No matter what kind of a case some bastard could make against you getting married, there
13:39would be only one thing worse.
13:42And that would be if, knowing what you two are, knowing what you two have, and knowing
13:50what you two feel, you didn't get married.
13:57David Lynch is one of the last people you'd expect to make a G-rated film distributed by
14:01Disney.
14:01But the auteur did just that with this tender road drama about Alvin Street, an elderly
14:06veteran who traveled from Iowa to Wisconsin on a riding mower to visit his ailing brother.
14:11My brother and I said some unforgivable things the last time we met, but I'm trying to put
14:19that behind me.
14:22And this trip is a hard swallow of my pride.
14:29I just hope I'm not too late.
14:30At the time of filming, Farnsworth had been diagnosed with prostate cancer that had partially
14:34paralyzed him.
14:35But he still managed to give his final performance his all.
14:38So, uh, what's the worst part about being old, Alvin?
14:44Well, the worst part of being old is remembering when you was young.
14:48At the film's conclusion, the estranged brothers are reunited.
14:50Few words are exchanged between the two, but those that do speak volumes.
14:54Did you ride that thing all the way out here to see me?
15:00I did, Lyle.
15:02The pain of his illness would eventually lead to Farnsworth taking his own life, giving this
15:06already bittersweet moment further poignancy.
15:08Life ain't short.
15:09Jason Robards, Magnolia.
15:11In this epic yet intimate ensemble drama from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, screen
15:15legend Jason Robards plays a TV producer who's dying from cancer and hoping to make amends
15:20with his son before he passes.
15:34Robards would die from lung cancer a year after Magnolia's release.
15:37While it's unclear if he had been diagnosed at the time of filming, he had been dealing
15:41with other health complications.
15:42In this gut-wrenching scene, Robards' Earl Partridge speaks to Philip Seymour Hoffman's
15:46nurse about his regrets.
16:03Disgusted at his selfishness, Earl lays into himself.
16:25He reflects on how his guilt has not gone away with time.
16:28If anything, it's grown stronger, making his final days painful beyond his physical ailment.
16:33And Robards makes every word count.
16:35Life ain't short, it's long.
16:40It's long, god damn it.
16:45God damn.
16:50What did I do?
16:52Thank you for coming.
16:53Edward G. Robinson.
16:54Soylent Green.
16:55Even if you haven't seen this dystopian thriller, there's a good chance you already know it's
16:59horrifying reveal.
17:00You gotta tell him.
17:01You gotta tell him.
17:02But even if pop culture has ruined the surprise, it's still worth watching, particularly to
17:07see the great Edward G. Robinson's final performance.
17:09Me.
17:16Oh my god.
17:26How do we come to this?
17:27Robinson plays Solomon Roth, who assists Charlton Heston's detective in his investigation.
17:32Upon learning what Soylent Green really is, a traumatized Roth chooses to end his life through
17:37euthanasia.
17:38So, can you hear me?
17:43Paul?
17:45Yes.
17:46Thank you for coming.
17:49Oh dear god.
17:50I've lived too long.
17:52Robinson, unbeknownst to his co-stars, was ill with bladder cancer and would die two months
17:56after filming completed.
17:57Though it may be his character who's saying goodbye, it also feels like Robinson is bidding
18:02farewell to the generations of fans he's earned.
18:04You have to prove it, Don.
18:09I already appreciate it.
18:13Please, Don.
18:17I can prove it.
18:19The wonders of your island.
18:20Massimo Troisi, Il Postino, The Postman.
18:23This charming Italian dramedy about a fictionalized relationship between renowned Chilean poet Pablo
18:28Neruda and Mario, a mail carrier, became an international hit.
18:31Buongiorno.
18:33Buongiorno.
18:33Buongiorno.
18:35Buongiorno.
18:36Sadly, its star and co-writer, Massimo Troisi, passed away shortly before its release.
18:41Childhood illness had taken a toll on Troisi's heart, and he was in very poor condition during
18:45filming, but he prioritized the film over his health, even postponing a much-needed heart
18:49transplant.
18:54Having lost contact with Neruda, he is inspired to record the sounds of the island he calls home,
18:59from the waves to his unborn child's heartbeat.
19:05Right after, the timeline jumps ahead five years, and we learn that Mario has been killed.
19:10Only one day after Principal Photography wrapped, Troisi died of a heart attack, making this
19:15ending even more tear-inducing than it already was.
19:30Disappointed.
19:30Pete Possilthwaite, Inception.
19:32You might not recognize Pete Possilthwaite's name, but you very likely know his face from
19:36his many memorable supporting turns.
19:38When did you last see him?
19:4010, 15 minutes.
19:43Come with me.
19:44And you.
19:45If he's alive, we'll find him.
19:47The rest of you keep right on.
19:48In Christopher Nolan's mind-bending thriller, Possilthwaite plays ailing business magnate
19:54Maurice Fisher.
19:55While his screen time is limited, his impact is immense.
19:57It's just...
20:00I know, Dad.
20:01Possilthwaite was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the year before Inception's release,
20:05and his physical decline is apparent on screen.
20:07His son Robert, played by Cillian Murphy, visits him at his bedside in his final moments.
20:12I know you were disappointed.
20:14I couldn't be you.
20:16Hopes for satisfying closure are soon dashed when Robert hears his father's last words to him.
20:20I was disappointed.
20:24That you tried.
20:26The power of this moment is amplified by the two actors' amazing work.
20:29Murphy's weeping, and we're right there with him.
20:31Death of J.B. Books, John Wayne the Shootist.
20:33Whether or not John Wayne knew he was terminally ill during production of his final film is unclear.
20:38This is my birthday.
20:39Give me the best in the house.
20:41Yes, sir.
20:42However, the Western icon had multiple bouts with cancer and would die of stomach cancer
20:45three years after its release.
20:47So it's not unlikely that death was on his mind,
20:49especially when you consider the film's subject matter.
20:51Wayne plays J.B. Books, a gunslinger dying of cancer.
20:55You told me I was strong as an ox.
20:57Well, even an ox dies.
21:00In the final act, he's killed by a cowardly bartender who shoots him in the back.
21:04His protege, Gillum, avenges him before quickly swearing off the gunslinger lifestyle
21:09to the dying books' relief.
21:10Even without saying a word, Wayne shows why he was and remains an absolute legend.
21:21Before we continue, check out this single from Sound Mojo's Adia, Songs from Iran,
21:26reimagining Persian melodies as modern rock, metal, and pop songs.
21:30Check out the full track and album below.
21:47I have a present for you.
21:49Vincent Price, Edward Scissorhands.
21:50I know it's a little early for Christmas, Edward, but I have a present for you.
22:01Growing up, Tim Burton idolized horror legend Vincent Price.
22:04Don't sit up all night thinking of ways to get rid of me.
22:08It makes wrinkles.
22:09He was fortunate enough to be able to collaborate with his hero,
22:12first on the stop-motion short Vincent, and then on this classic gothic fantasy.
22:16Price plays the inventor who created the titular Edward.
22:18It's so easy to commit embarrassing blunders,
22:22but etiquette tells us just what is expected of us
22:25and guards us from all humiliation and discomfort.
22:29Upon presenting his beloved creation with proper hands,
22:32the inventor collapses and dies before he has the chance to put them on him.
22:41During production, Price was stricken with Parkinson's disease
22:45and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
22:47and the severity of his conditions reduced his availability.
22:50Price passed away from lung cancer in 1993,
22:53and knowing he was in poor health makes this scene all the more crushing.
23:04Which of these performances touched you the most?
23:06Be sure to let us know in the comments.
23:07That's…
23:09That was the aaheese phenomenon.
23:13We've had some pockets before the violence.
23:14To be able to inspire a little bit of barriers
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