KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
May 29 marks the anniversary of the acquittal of Director John Landis on manslaughter charges following an infamous Santa Clarita helicopter crash that killed Twilight Zone actor Vic Morrow and two child actors.
On July 23, 1982 53-year-old Vic Morrow and two child actors died in a helicopter crash during the filming of “Twilight Zone: The Movie.”
The crash took place at Indian Dunes Park, a 600 acre ranch built by the Newhall Land and Farming Co. along the Santa Clara River between Santa Clarita and Piru.
During the filming of an air attack scene at 2:20 a.m., Morrow took his place in the Santa Clara River with a child actor under each arm as Landis ordered the helicopter pilot to fly lower as explosives were set off. Fireballs rose into the night sky, coming too close to the aircraft and causing Wingo to lose control of the helicopter.
The chopper plunged into the river on top of Morrow and the children. All three were killed instantly; Morrow was decapitated by the helicopter’s whirling main rotor.
Four years after the accident in 1986, four years after the incident, Landis was brought to trial after the families of the actors filed a series of lawsuits against Warner Bros. Studios, Landis, Spielberg and others.
Landis faced three additional counts of manslaughter for “aggravated, reckless, grossly negligent” acts resulting in the deaths of Morrow and the children.
Vic Morrow and the children one second before their deaths
On May 29, 1987, after a lengthy and contentious trial, the jury acquitted him.
He went on to direct such successful movies as “Coming to America” (1988) and “Beverly Hills Cop III” (1994), both starring Eddie Murphy.
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You got the location all wrong. It was a movie ranch in the river bed off Soledad Canyon Road. North of SCV; nowhere near Piru nor “Redondo”. Lindsey went to public schools.
At least Lindsey went to school. https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/pollack0512morrow.htm
You have the location wrong. I was one of the paramedics that responded to the crash. It was in a river bed but was off of Hwy 126 not far from the community of Piru.
Why would you continue the disrespect of the children by not using their names when “remembering” this incident It is unthinkable to me that journalists continue to say the name of the adult actor as if he is more important than the lives of these children.
The children’s names were Renee Chen (a girl, age 6) and My-ca Dinh Le (a boy, age 7). There were NOT child actors. In fact, they were hired illegally (that fact is not in dispute) and their parents who did not speak English as their first language, were completely unaware the laws or procedures of a professional film set.
You neglect to mention that while Landis was acquitted criminally, the production did pay a fine for hiring the children illegally and WB settled a civil suit for $2M for each family.
If you would like to “remember” a little more about this incident, there is a story here: https://www.bizparentz.org/twilight-zone-tragedy/
The location of the accident is correct in the article.
We were on the studio lot just before that, maybe weeks, so long ago. We were standing there watching Vic Morrow shoot a scene in a Foxhole. It took them forever to film one scene. I was shocked when I heard this. How terrifying it must have been for the three of them watching the helicopter come down and nothing they could do about it. So sad.