The 10 Best Movies Released After A Star's Death

Posthumously released films are not a novelty in Hollywood. With advanced production schedules, a hard-working actor can have several unreleased films in the can at their time of death—the late Bernie Mac had three. Sometimes it can be a little unsettling to watch a film after an actor has passed, but usually it serves as a final testament to their great dedication to their craft. With Sparkle, Whitney Houston's would-be comeback, releasing this week, Complex remembers some lost greats with The 10 Best Movies Released After a Star's Death.

Written by Frazier Tharpe (@The_SummerMan)

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Released: Two years after death

This trippy '80s sci-fi flick about transferring one's thoughts directly to videotape went on to become a critical darling. Aside from the cool premise, Brainstorm features a highly stylized cinematography from director Douglas Trumbull—specifically the 60 fps/70mm gimmick designed to give the flashback scenes a hyper-real intensity.

The film was something of a failure at the box office, which was strange considering society's morbid fascination with mysterious deaths: Brainstorm almost got shelved due to Natalie Wood's death by drowning while out boating with husband Robert Wagner and co-star Christopher Walken. It was ruled an accident, but an air of uncertainty still surrounds it—Wood's cause of death was changed to undetermined this year.

Released: Three months after death

Clark Gable died at 59, a common age to suffer a debilitating heart attack, but his death still sparked gossip. One rumor: The physical demands of The Misfits, which sees Gable as an aging cowboy, played a part in his deteriorating health. His wife later said that it wasn't a matter of physicality, but instead pure on-set tension.

Either way, the experience resulted in what is widely considered Gable's finest performance, an opinion shared by the man himself. Unlike others on this list, it is reported that Clark was able to screen much of his final work through rough cuts.

The film pairs him alongside Marilyn Monroe as a lovelorn divorcee who engages in a May-December dalliance with Gable's cowboy. It was a box office bomb, yet due in large part to Gable's performance currently sits with a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Released: 11 months after death

Rebel Without a Cause may have been hotter in the streets, but Giant, James Dean's final film, also released posthumously, received unrelenting praise across the board. That complaint about Oscar voters not being in touch with the youth has been around awhile: Dean got a posthumous nomination for his role as Jett Rink in Giant but not Jim Stark in Rebel.

While Stark scored big with the kids, Jett Rink, along with Rock Hudson's Jordan "Bick" Benedict Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor's Leslie Benedict, impressed with their melodramatic trials (hostility, secret loves, race relations) set against the gorgeous backdrop of a Texas ranch.

Released: 14 months after death

The Crow has the second-longest time gap between death and release, in part because Brandon, Bruce Lee's son, hadn't actually completed filming when he was accidentally shot with a negligently handled prop gun on set. The film employed then-groundbreaking special effects to give Lee's stunt double his face to finish out the final days of shooting.

Technically it's a straightforward revenge thriller, but director Alex Proyas' unique, stylized take on the inner city violence makes it soar. It opened to great acclaim and box office revenue, and no doubt would have successfully launched Brandon's career as he planned.

Released: Four months after death

The highly accomplished actor ended his filmography co-starring alongside fellow leading man legend Charlton Heston in Soylent Green, the dystopian sci-fi epic that is easily one of the most pop culturally referenced films to this day ("IT'S PEOPLE!"). Robinson knew his days were numbered, even telling Heston so a few days prior to wrapping. His final scene filmed? His character's death by euthanasia. Creepy.

Soylent Green resonated with audiences for its striking allegories on pollution, overpopulation, and environmental negligence—sound familiar? Don't be surprised if this gets the patented Hollywood Unnecessary Remake treatment.

Released: Nine months after death

At the time of John Cazale's death he had only been a supporting actor in five films—all of which went on to become Best Picture nominees, if not winners (The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter). Even though he personally received only one nomination, for a Golden Globe, the man was clearly an immense talent who brought the best out of his generation's finest actors.

The Robert De Niro classic The Deer Hunter, which Cazale completed alongside his real-life love, Meryl Streep, before succumbing to lung cancer, is no exception. The film offers a stunningly realistic, unflinching look into the lives and psyches of war veterans and though Cazale never saw the film, his golden touch persevered, blessing Christopher Walken with his first Academy Award.

Released: Six months after death

Tracy died a little over two weeks after he completed filming this historically significant race relations drama. In an eerie coincidence, he had already declared that the role of liberally conflicted Matt Drayton would be his last, and his work days were limited to just two to three hours per day. His dedication to frequent collaborator Stanley Kramer's film was honored with a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, in addition to becoming his highest-grossing film.

Released: Six months after death

Even before Ledger's death, the buzz for The Dark Knight was deafening, with his mysterious, highly anticipated performance as Batman's time-honored archnemesis The Joker fueling the hype. Then Ledger died, under curious circumstances (accidental overdose of prescription sleeping pills) that seemingly implied that portraying the Clown Prince of Crime had taken a toll on the committed thespian.

We'll never know if he sacrificed his sanity, but he definitely put everything he had into The Joker, more than holding his own against Jack Nicholson's iconic 1989 turn and helping The Dark Knight transcend normal "superhero movie" trappings to become a bonafide phenomenon. The part earned him a deserved 2009 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, making him the second actor to win a posthumous Academy Award.

Released: One month after death

James Dean's icon swag increases tenfold when you realize that Rebel Without a Cause, the definitive, visual youth guidebook for years to follow, was released after he was already gone. Then again, his tragic, untimely death via car crash only made his legend, and the film, that much more significant.

As Jim Stark, Dean put parents of the '50s onward under pressure, gave dudes a new image to imitate, and girls a new heartthrob with his high-school misadventures, and yet Rebel transcends being what would now be considered a simplistic "teen movie" with its honest account of surviving teenage years against parenting a new generation.

Released: One month after death

Watching Enter the Dragon in 1973 must've been one of the most bittersweet experiences of all time. How can one really enjoy what went on to become arguably the greatest martial arts film of all time, when its star icon passed prematurely, and somewhat mysteriously, of a reaction to a painkiller, a mere month beforehand? (The Hong Kong release was even worse, arriving just six days after Lee's death.)

It's at least comforting that Bruce's efforts to make it more than just a dope kung-fu flick paid off, with it becoming the first Chinese martial arts film to have major studio backing, as well as jump starting the career of that Jackie Chan guy.