Shaun Mark Bean professionally known as Sean Bean is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of Romeo and Juliet in 1983.
You probably know Sean Bean as the actor who dies in every movie or TV series he plays in. Ned Stark in The Game of Thrones? Dead. Boromir in the Lord of the Rings? Dead. Alec in GoldenEye? Dead. And the list goes on – but not anymore. The actor who died a whole 23 times on screen says he won’t be taking up any more roles where the character he plays dies.
Through his four decades of fatalities in TV and film, the Broken actor has built up a reputation for playing killable characters, portraying men that have been shot, stabbed and, in the 1990s The Field, trampled off a cliff by a herd of rampaging cows.
But which on his many on-screen deaths is his best? You’ve probably got a personal favorite, but now the actor himself has revealed to RadioTimes.com which of his deaths he thinks is definitively the best. And turns out there’s one on-screen fatality that rules them all: that of Boromir from Lord of Rings.
“I thought his death was very heroic and triumphant and poignant. It had pathos. And the [frame rate] slowed down and it had great music playing really loud. And it was great to try and fight back – he went on forever,” Bean told us while miming Boromir’s dying sword strokes. “I was very happy about that! Better than a quick death!”
However, In an interview with The Sun, the 60-year-old actor said he has turned down roles because people would know his character is going to die.
“I just had to cut that out and start surviving, otherwise it was all a bit predictable,” said Bean.
“I did do one job and they said, ‘We’re going to kill you’, and I was like, ‘Oh no!’ and then they said, ‘Well, can we injure you badly?’ and I was like, ‘OK, so long as I stay alive this time’,” joked the actor.
“I’ve played a lot of baddies, they were great but they weren’t very fulfilling — and I always died,” added Bean.
Here’s the full list of Sean Bean characters who have died:
Ranuccio “Caravaggio” (1986)
German Soldier “War Requiem” (1989)
Tadgh McCabe “The Field” (1990)
Carver Doone “Lorna Doone” (1990)
Robert Lovelace “Clarissa” (1991)
Gabriel Lewis “Screen One: Tell Me That You Love Me” (1991)
Sean Miller” Patriot Games” (1992)
Lord Richard Fenton “Scarlett” (1994)
Alec Trevelyan “Goldeneye” (1995)
Dave Toombs “Airborne” (1998)
Jason Locke “Essex Boys” (2000)
Patrick Koster “Don’t Say a Word” (2001)
Boromir “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001)
Cleric Errol Partridge” Equilibrium” (2002)
Robert Aske “Henry VIII” (2003)
Dr. Merrick “The Island” (2005)
John Ryder “The Hitcher” (2007)
Bryant “Outlaw” (2007)
Loki “The Far North” (2007)
John Dawson “Red Riding: 1974” (2008)
Pyke Kubic / Reese Kubic “Ca$h” (2010)
Ulrich” Black Death” (2010)
Markus Kane “Death Race 2” (2010)
Jones “Age of Heroes” (2011)
Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark “Game of Thrones: Baelor” (2011)
Harry “Silent Hill: Revelation” (2012)
Frank Stinson “Wicked Blood” (Bad Blood) (2014)
Inspector John Marlott “The Frankenstein Chronicles: Lost and Found” (2015)
Regis Lucis Caelum “Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV” (2016; animated)
