Jon-Erik Hexum, died after shooting himself on the set of the series that was to make him a star, thus truncating a career that was beginning to take off.
Jon-Erik Hexum, This actor who, due to his physique, could well be the eighties predecessor of Henry Cavill, had a possible successful career ahead of him after Hollywood trusted his potential to become a star, but fate had other plans for him.
Hexum was born on November 5, 1957, in New Jersey, the son of Norwegian parents who divorced when he was just four years old. After high school, he went off to college to study biomedical engineering, but during his career he developed a special interest in the audiovisual arts, working as a radio disc jockey and playing various roles on stage. In addition, he also took advantage of his athletic disposition to play football, playing for the Michigan Spartans during the 1978 season.
After college, Jon-Erik Hexum moved to New York to pursue his true passion: acting. His introduction to the world of film and television is an example of how much life can change when you are in the right place and at the right time. Working as a house cleaner, Hexum was discovered by Bob LeMond, the manager of John Travolta, one of the biggest movie stars of the 70s and 80s. LeMond saw something in that young man with Nordic features and a model build and didn't hesitate to sign him up. for your client portfolio.
In 1981, Jon-Erik Hexum went to live in Los Angeles, advised by his new manager. That same year he participated in the casting of a film called A summer love (Summer Lovers), the new work of the director of The blue lake, Randall Kleiser, but he lost the role in favor of another newcomer, Peter Gallagher (American Beauty, The OC). However, Hollywood executives and talent scouts noticed his commercial appeal and were quick to offer him another chance. In 1982, and with no professional experience behind him, Jon-Erik Hexum landed the lead role in Voyagers!, a new science fiction adventure series on NBC.
During the broadcast of Travelers, Jon-Erik Hexum achieved moderate television popularity, considerably accelerating the pace of his life. The series did well in the ratings, but even so, the network wanted to replace it with a news program to compete with the success of 60 Minutes on CBS. As a result, Travelers was canceled after just one season, leaving the actor unemployed after a year of earning $10,000 a week. Of course, when you have the Viking look of Jon-Erik Hexum, failure does not mean that Hollywood will not continue to give you opportunities. And if not, tell Chris Hemsworth.
His next job was in the television movie The Model (Making of a Male Model), in which he shared the bill with one of the most mythical television stars of the 80s, Joan Collins, the unforgettable Alexis Carrington from Dynasty. In the film, Jon-Erik Hexum played (how could it be otherwise) a young model who was seduced by an agent to join his agency. After his first role in a feature film, Hexum gave life to a prince charming named Erik in Hotel, one of the most successful series of the 80s, and participated in the sports biopic The Bear, where he resumed his university past playing football player. football. Furthermore, in real life he also developed a prolific career as a male model and pin-up, leaving behind countless photo shoots for posterity.
And so we come to the series that could have been his definitive platform to achieve stardom if it weren't for its fateful outcome, Cover Up, known in Spain as Camuflaje. In this action series, created by one of the most prominent screenwriters of the '80s, Glen A. Larson (Fantastic Car, Magnum P.I.), Hexum played a former Vietnam War soldier who is recruited by a photographer (Jennifer O. 'Neill) to find the killers of her husband, a CIA spy, for which she poses as a (you guessed it) model. The actor had been considering several projects, but it was the role of Mac Harper that caught his attention the most, since, according to him, it was “a mixture of Indiana Jones, James Bond, Mr. Magoo, and Superman”.
Of course, Camouflage had all the requirements to become a great television success: a striking premise, action, and a leading couple destined to occupy every magazine cover. However, Hexum's death at the young age of 26, with his entire life and career ahead of him, cut short the future of the series and his promising lead.
It happened on October 12, 1984, during the filming of the seventh episode of Camouflage at 20th Century Fox Studios. In one of the scenes, Jon-Erik Hexum's character had to carry a .44 Magnum revolver. To do this, the team provided him with a gun loaded with blanks. The director was not happy with the scene and the filming suffered a delay. During the wait, Hexum lost his patience and began to play with the weapon. He loaded the pistol with a single blank round and turned the cylinder, pretending he was playing Russian roulette. Then Hexum put the revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. Bad luck wanted that to be the chamber that contained the bullet.
Even though the ammunition was not real, Hexum got so close to the weapon that the damage was irreparable. The shock wave from the shot fractured his skull, driving several fragments into his brain, and causing massive bleeding. He did not die instantly and was taken to a Beverly Hills hospital, where he underwent five hours of surgery and spent six days in a coma before being declared brain dead. His mother agreed to give up his body for organ transplantation, for which he was flown to San Francisco, where his heart was transplanted into a Las Vegas man later identified as a pimp (The Sun). Hexum also donated his kidneys and corneas, which went to four different people, as well as some of his skin to treat a three-year-old boy with third-degree burns. Finally, his body was transferred to Los Angeles, where he was cremated. His mother scattered his ashes in the Pacific Ocean near Malibu.
After a police investigation, Hexum's death was officially ruled accidental. However, some think it was more than an accident. In 2018, his girlfriend at the time, Elizabeth Dailly, gave a revealing interview in which she said that the actor's life ended prematurely "due to his own ambition", assuring that he felt "stressed" by the direction he was taking. the Serie. In her words: “I remember that it was a very strange few weeks. He was very stressed, more than he had ever seen. He wanted things to move very fast. He was in such a hurry that he couldn't even enjoy his life. The ambition was what killed him. Not taking care of yourself around that ambition.”
On the other hand, the author expert in television history Douglas Snauffer assures that Hexum had a great fascination with weapons, which worried his co-star in Camouflage, Jennifer O'Neill, who coincidentally had also accidentally shot herself a few times. years ago at his home in New York. According to Douglas, "Hexum's fascination with her weapons made her very nervous and she used to ask him to be careful when handling weapons on set."
Despite the tragedy, Camouflage production continued without Hexum. The accident episode aired just two weeks after the actor's death. Later, the series introduced a replacement, Tony Hamilton, who bore a clear resemblance to Hexum. Hamilton played another agent posing as a model. The series then announced that Mac Harper had died during a mission. Despite the decision to go ahead with it, Camouflage was canceled the following year with only 20 episodes in total.
