20 memorable TV characters who were killed of hit shows

In one of the more shocking television deaths, McLean Stevenson's Henry Blake was celebrated while being discharged from the 4077 at the end of M*A*S*H's third season in 1975. Stevenson's departure allegedly stemmed from his dissatisfaction with not being one of the show's stars and felt he was worthy of lead-man status. He reportedly was also unhappy with the way the show's cast was treated. So, perhaps in a retaliation move by the writers, after Blake left Korea on a helicopter, audiences and the cast learned the chopper was shot down over the Sea of Japan, with no survivors on board.

A recurring theme on this list will be a popular actor's desire to leave a show, thus opening the door for an emotional death. In the case of the legendary Jean Stapleton's iconic Edith Bunker, an off-screen stroke ended her run during the second season of the All in the Family spin-off Archie Bunker's Place, as she felt the character had run its course. In fact, Edith's death had a more profound impact on Caroll O'Connor's Archie, who earned acclaim for his performance while dealing with his grief in the 1980 episode "Archie Alone."

Valerie Harper made a name for herself while popular supporting character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and parlayed the character Rhoda into her own spin-off series. During the 1980s, Harper again earned a lead role as a working mother of three boys on the NBC sitcom Valerie. However, prior to the show's third season, Harper found herself in dispute with the network and production company over compensation, and was eventually fired from the show. When the series returned as Valerie's Family: The Hogans, the Season 3 opener addressed the family's grief over Valerie's off-screen death from a car accident in the summer of 1987. Veteran actor Sandy Duncan, playing Harper's sister-in-law, filled in as the female lead to help take care of the Hogan clan.

Viewers of this popular ABC drama from the late 1980s to the '90s had an interesting relationship with Peter Horton's character, Gary. He was easy on the eyes, but questionable when it came to love and morals. However, it was still tragic when Gary died in a car accident during the fourth season of 1991. After all, Gary did turn his life around professionally and was giving it a go as a single dad while battling lung cancer.

Susan (Heidi Swedberg) wasn't a main character on Seinfeld, but she was about to marry George Costanza. Then, she was poisoned while licking the toxic sealant glue from the cheap wedding invitation envelopes that George bought and died during the Season 7 finale (1996). It was a rather important moment of dark humor for the series. Behind the scenes, rumors surfaced that Swedberg was not liked, thus her character was axed. However, it has also been reported that the Seinfeld writers found it difficult to consistently include Swedberg into plotlines.

According to reports, Jimmy Smit's exit from NYPD Blue in the late 1990s had been built after his Simone received a heart transplant. However, infection settled in, and Simone's days were numbered as Season 5 progressed. And that led to one of the most emotional and impactful deaths seen on primetime television. Calling it gut-wrenching would be an understatement. 

The late Shannen Doherty was no stranger to behind-the-scenes controversy during a rather successful acting career. However, her well-publicized spat with co-star Alyssa Milano got her fired from this massively popular supernatural drama series. And, Doherty's Prue went out in dramatic fashion, bleeding to death after being sent through a wall by Shax. While Prue's death in the 2001 Season 3 finale was emotional, the Halliwell clan lived on -- thanks to the addition of Rose McGowan's character Paige.

The slow roll of Dr. Greene's death spanning two seasons of the mega-popular NBC hit gave fans plenty of time to brace themselves from for the inevitable, Still, when Mark Greene passed away (written in when actor Anthony Edwards opted to leave the show) in Hawaii from his two-year battle with a brain cancer near the end of Season 8 (2002), it was still highly emotional. In fact, it remains one of the saddest moments in the series' history.

Leading up to the two-part Dawson's Creek series finale in 2003, rumors spread that one of the show's main characters would die. That turned out to be reformed wild girl Jen (Michelle Williams). The finale was set five years in the future, and Jen was dealing with a serious heart issue that Dawson, Joey and Pacey were not aware of until days before her death. It was a bittersweet moment for the gang as they said goodbye to a dear friend, who also happened to be the mother of a young child.

Many fans of Six Feet Under and TV critics alike consider Nate Fisher's demise the most shocking—and important — death in the history of television. The run of the show follows Fisher (Peter Krause), essentially contemplating his own death. Still, it was a true, memorable television moment when the leader of the Fisher gang died of a brain hemorrhage (that resulted from a previous surgery) near the end of the series' run in 2005 after five seasons.

Mischa Barton's Marissa Cooper was one of the more iconic fictional teen characters of all time. So, it was seemingly unthinkable that she would be killed off in the 2006 Season 3 finale of the popular WB drama. In dramatic fashion, Marissa died in the arms of love, Ryan (Ben McKenzie), following a car accident. As Barton noted on many occasions, Marissa was such a tortured heroine, it was only a matter of time before she met her demise.

In terms of a legendary character's death, Omar's was a highly anticlimactic death at the hands of a young, wannabe stick-up king in the convenience store during Season 5 (2008). However, the death was symbolic of just how random and mundane violence has become in American cities. A message that resonates with great sadness.

Depending on who is doing the talking, Nicollette Sheridan's Edie Britt was killed off in the popular season in Season 5 (2009) either because she wasn't easy to deal with on-set or the writers basically ran out of love interests and storylines for this particular housewife. Regardless, her death was rather memorable, being electrocuted after a car crashed into a power pole. 

When Rita (Julie Benz) suffered a gruesome and disturbing death at the hands of Trinity Killer, Arthur Mitchell, at the end of Season 4 (2009), it set the main character, Dexter, her husband, down an even darker path. In response to Rita's death, it did not necessarily sit well with some fans, as that faction felt that it was the beginning of the popular series' decline.

Charlie Sheen's noted, long-time battle with the prominent Hollywood show creator and producer Chuck Lorre ultimately led to Sheen's departure from Two and a Half Men. He suffered an off-screen death in Season 9 in 2011, falling in front of a train while in Paris. Then in the series finale, Lorre mocked Sheen's departure by showing a piano fall on Sheen's body double, then himself suffering the same fictional fate while breaking the Fourth Wall. The whole situation regarding Sheen's exit and Charlie Harper's death was bizarre and highly over-the-top.

When Dr. Sweets (John Francis Daley) was murdered by a rogue, indoctrinated Navy SEAL in the 10th season premiere in 2014, it was quite shocking. At least on screen, as the mercurial Sweets had finally found love and was on the verge of starting a family. In real life, Daley planned to leave the show to pursue more work opportunities as a director. 

"McDreamy" was killed off? No way. How dare they? That was essentially the reaction for a good portion of Grey's fans when Patrick Dempsey's mega-popular character died from injuries as a result of being hit by a car while stopping to help those involved in another car accident. The 2015 Season 11 episode is one of the most memorable in the history of primetime, network TV, and utterly gut-wrenching when Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) turns off his life support machine.

When Roseanne Barr was fired from her own popular series (due to insensitive and seemingly racist comments regarding former Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett in 2018), prior to Season 11 of Roseanne, ABC opted to continue the series without her. Thus, The Connors were born, and Barr's character was said to have died due to an accidental opioid overdose, as result of her secret addiction to painkillers following surgery.  

The 2021 premiere of this Sex and the City spin-off was quite the shocker, as John "Mr. Big" Preston suffered a fatal heart attack following a Peloton workout, eventually dying in the arms of love Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). While actor Chris Noth was dealing with sexual assault  allegations, the decision to nix Big from the show opened the door for Carrie to travel down some different personal roads. 

One of the most recent shocking television deaths was that of patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox). On the day of Connor and Willa's wedding (the third episode of Season 4 in 2023), Roy was headed to Sweden on business. He collapses on board the plane and is pronounced dead of a heart attack. Though the series would end later that year, Logan's death was shocking nonetheless, and made the rest of the Roy clan even more entertaining to watch.