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Claim: An actor whose character had been killed during a live television production suddenly got up and walked off-stage.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2005]
Origins: On-stage performers in theatrical shows and other live events have always had to deal with the possibility of something going wrong in the midst of a 
Unlike participants in filmed entertainment, they have no chance to stop the cameras, recover themselves, do another take, or edit the flub out of the finished performance; they have to carry on as best they can despite whatever adverse circumstances might arise. In the pre-television era, at least, they had the consolation of knowing that a flawed performance would live on only in the memories of the relatively small audience that witnessed it.
The advent of television changed that dynamic, however. Many programs aired in the early days of commercial broadcast TV were staged live, and flawed performances were viewed by audiences numbering in the millions rather than the hundreds. Also, such performances were sometimes preserved on film (usually through the kinescope process), enabling repeat viewings of embarrassing flubs. Moreover, the lack of One
This particular version of the legend appears to be apocryphal, as none of the commercially available tapes or DVDs of the A production of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale, starring Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre, aired on
CASE SOLVED
Other newspaper scribes spotted the slip-up as well, as noted in this summary by the Chicago Daily Tribune's television reviewer:
Corpse Walks Away During Drama on TV And the dead man got up and slowly walked No doubt about it. Thousands of televiewers were talking about it yesterday. It seems that on the new high-budgeted CBS dramatic series, Climax, which had its debut on Powell and the other actors went right on talking as if nothing had happened. And the show went on and the private eye finally solved the murder, leaving televiewers a little perplexed. CBS blushingly explained yesterday that Coffin thought the scene was over and that he was off-camera when he took his macabre stroll.
SLAIN GUY CRAWLS OFF VIDEO SET
The New York Times' television wrap-up column also made mention of the incident:
CLIMAX! On its premier from Hollywood last night the new Climax series reached a totally unexpected climax. For its opener, the series presented a tight taut Raymond Chandler murder thriller titled, "The Long Goodby," starring Dick Powell as a private eye. The action had moved to its moment of greatest impact. An alcoholic author had just been mysteriously shot. A blanket was drawn over the body and while viewers sought to figure out who killed the victim, the body got up and crawled off stage on all fours, dragging the blanket atop him. We haven't seen a camera booboo so ludicrous since the early days of TV when WBKB put on "Arsenic and [Old] Lace," and the corpse in the window seat suddenly came to life. Despite this bobble, this was a great show with Powell turning in a top grade performance as a casual, cool detective, who unraveled a complicated case, but I'll bet he will always insist on a filmed show in the future to avoid such boners, even tho he had no part in causing this one.
The direction of William H. Brown Jr. was most able, except for one unfortunate moment when a camera caught one of the 'bodies' getting up and leaving the stage. This minor mishap was of scant importance in light of the evening's achievement.
It may be the case that the dead do sometimes walk among us, but the least they could do is wait for convenient commercial breaks.
Last updated: 8 June 2008 Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2010 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson. This material may not be reproduced without permission. snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.  Sources:
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