John Hagen Bernecker (March 2, 1984 – July 13, 2017) was an American stunt performer.
Early life
Bernecker was born on March 2, 1984, in
. He attended the
University of New Orleans
The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a member of the University of Louisiana System and the Urban 13 association. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High rese ...
and
Southeastern Louisiana University.
Career
Bernecker worked on over 90 films and television series, including ''
Jonah Hex'', ''
Green Lantern'', ''
The Hunger Games'' film series, ''
Logan
Logan may refer to:
Places
* Mount Logan (disambiguation)
Australia
* Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
* Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud
* Logan City, local gover ...
'' and ''
The Fate of the Furious''. He posthumously appeared in numerous films, such as ''
Black Panther
A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...
'' and ''
Game Night.''
Death
On July 12, 2017, Bernecker was performing stunts on the television series ''
The Walking Dead''. During rehearsal of a stunt, Bernecker fell onto a concrete floor, missing a placed safety cushion by "inches", and sustained a severe head injury. This shut down production on the series. He was taken to
Atlanta Medical Center
Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center was a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia operated by Wellstar Health System. It had 460 beds and over 700 physicians. The hospital was a Level I Trauma Center, and an Advanced Primary Stroke Center. It housed a Neuroin ...
and placed on life support. He died from his injuries the following day. His death was the first of two in two months of a stunt performer in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, followed by the August death of stuntwoman
Joi Harris
Sequana Joi Harris (December 11, 1976 – August 14, 2017) was an American motorcycle road racer and stuntwoman. She was the first African American woman licensed as a motorcycle road racer, racing professionally since 2014, while beginning moto ...
while filming ''
Deadpool 2
''Deadpool 2'' is a 2018 American superhero comedy film based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is the sequel to ''Deadpool'' (2016) and the eleventh installment overall in the ''X-Men'' film series. T ...
''.
Tributes
Tributes were paid by people Bernecker worked with, including ''Walking Dead'' stars
Norman Reedus,
Jeffrey Dean Morgan and
Lauren Cohan. The premiere episode of the eighth season, "
Mercy", the first to air after the accident, was dedicated "In Memory of John Bernecker", along with dedication to
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...
who died three days later.
The movie ''
Game Night'' has a dedication to his memory at the end of the credits. A dedication was also made in his memory in the credits for the series finale of ''
Turn: Washington's Spies''. The movie ''
Avengers Of Justice: Farce Wars'' has a tribute at the end of all the credits.
Bernecker was buried at
Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.
Lawsuit
Bernecker's parents Susan Bernecker and Hagen Bernecker initiated a lawsuit against AMC and the production companies involved in filming ''The Walking Dead'' in January 2018, asserting the companies were negligent in safety precautions for the stunt. The jury trial was held in December 2019, with the jury awarding Bernecker's family in damages after finding that TWD 8, AMC's production company, and Stalwart Films were negligent in Bernecker's death, while clearing AMC of any wrongdoing.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernecker, John
1984 births
2017 deaths
Accidental deaths from falls
Accidental deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)
American stunt performers
Burials at Metairie Cemetery