Jon-Erik Hexum

Jon-Erik Hexum

Born: November 5, 1957
Died: October 18, 1984
in Englewood, New Jersey, USA
In the early 1980s, this ruggedly handsome young man of Norwegian parentage was seen as the "next big thing" - then suddenly he was dead from an accident via a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Hexum was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, where he was a musically gifted student at school playing both the horn and the violin in the school orchestra, and even the piano at home. He then attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, before transferring across to Michigan State University studying bio-medical engineering and then switching over to philosophy.

While at MSU, Hexum played football, and DJ'd at several local radio stations under the name of "Yukon Jack", before being discovered by John Travolta's manager, Bob LeMond. Hexum allegedly turned down plenty of opportunities to appear in shows such as The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), CHiPs (1977) and many daytime soap operas before finally making his debut in the television series Voyagers! (1982) as time traveler Phineas Bogg. He was then cast as hunk Tyler Burnett alongside Joan Collins in Making of a Male Model (1983), and then as ex-Green Beret Mac Harper in the television series Cover Up: Pilot (1984).

However, on October 12, 1984, after a long and draining day's shooting on the set of Cover Up: Pilot (1984), Hexum became bored with the extensive delays and jokingly put a prop .44 magnum revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. The gun fired, and the wadding from the blank cartridge shattered his skull, whereupon the mortally injured Hexum was rushed via ambulance to hospital to undergo extensive surgery. Despite five hours of work, the chief surgeon, Dr. David Ditsworth, described the damage to Hexum's brain as life-ending.

One week later, on October 18, he was taken off life support and pronounced dead. However, Hexum's commitment to organ donation meant five other lives were assisted or saved with organs harvested from him. The youthful and charming Hexum was dead at only 26 years of age.

Movies for Jon-Erik Hexum...

The Bear
Title: The Bear
Character: Pat Trammell
Released: September 28, 1984
Type: Movie
Biopic about the great college football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant of the University of Alabama
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Title: Cover Up
Character: Mac Harper
Released: September 22, 1984
Type: TV
Cover Up is an American action/adventure television series that aired for one season on CBS from September 22, 1984 to April 6, 1985. Created by Glen A. Larson, the series stars Jennifer O'Neill, Jon-Erik Hexum, Antony Hamilton, and Richard Anderson.
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Cover Up
Title: Cover Up
Character: Mac Harper
Released: September 22, 1984
Type: Movie
In this feature-length pilot, Dani Reynolds thinks that she has the perfect life, a perfect job, she's a renowned fashion photographer, and has a loving husband. But things change for her when her husband is killed. She learns that her husband wasn't the mild mannered person she thought he was. It seems that he was a government agent who works with no official government backing. She then recruits Mac Harper an ex-Green Beret to help her find out what happened to her husband.
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Voyager from the Unknown
Title: Voyager from the Unknown
Character: Phineas Bogg
Released: January 1, 1984
Type: Movie
It is 1984. Jeffrey Jones is an 11-year-old orphan entrusted to his uncle and aunt. One evening, Phineas Bogg crashes through his bedroom window. As the young boy's dog rushes to the intruder, he bites into the book in Bogg's hand. In the ensuing panic, while trying to snatch the book from the fangs of the animal, Jeffrey swings out the window. Bogg jumps into the void to catch him and both are projected into time. Phineas Bogg is part of a group called the "Travellers". As they try to return Jeffrey to his own time, they encounter famous people from the past — while trying not to alter the path of history.
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Making of a Male Model
Title: Making of a Male Model
Character: Tyler Burnett
Released: October 9, 1983
Type: Movie
Kay Dillon, a successful modeling agent, meets the young and handsome ranch hand Tyler Burnett in Nevada. She can't help but notice his incredible good looks and invites him to move to New York and start working for her as a male model. Burnett accepts the invitation and goes to New York to start his modeling career. But Tyler longs for more in life: a woman to love and his own ranch. Can he remain the biggest male model in the industry, and still get his heart's desires? Is Kay the woman to give all that to him?
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Title: Voyagers!
Character: Phineas Bogg
Released: October 3, 1982
Type: TV
Voyagers! is an American science fiction time travel-based television series that aired on NBC during the 1982–1983 season. The series stars Jon-Erik Hexum and Meeno Peluce.
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Title: Hotel
Character: Prince Erik
Released: August 21, 1982
Type: TV
Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty. Based on Arthur Hailey's 1965 novel of the same name, the series was produced by Aaron Spelling and set in the elegant and fictitious St. Gregory Hotel in San Francisco. Establishing shots of the hotel were filmed in front of The Fairmont San Francisco atop the Nob Hill neighborhood. Episodes followed the activities of passing guests, as well as the personal and professional lives of the hotel staff.