Sometimes, making the move from musician to actor can be dangerous. At least, that was the case for The Rolling Stones’ famed frontman, Mick Jagger. On August 18, 1969, the rock star was shot by a stray “bullet” on set. Thankfully, the bullet in question struck his hand instead, and it was a blank that had backfired. But that was far from the only incident that took place while filming the notably violent gangster film Ned Kelly.
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The story goes that Jagger was cast as the lead in Tony Richardson’s movie Ned Kelly. The film is a biographical effort about a real-life bushranger (think of them as old-timey Australian gangsters, escaped criminals, or outlaw cowboys) from the 19th century.
Unfortunately, production was far from smooth from the start. From the very beginning, a number of Kelly’s living family members expressed that they did not want the hip-shaking rock star to portray Kelly in the film. Plus, early on during the film’s production, Jagger’s girlfriend at the time (Marianne Faithfull) had overdosed on sleeping pills after Jagger attempted to break up with her. She was also in the film, slated to perform as Kelly’s sister, Maggie.
From there, some almost Biblical-level problems that plagued the film’s production. Much of the crew fell ill throughout filming. Plus, a fire broke out on set that destroyed the bulk of the production’s costumes. Mick Jagger’s co-star, Mark McManus, was almost seriously hurt when one of the horse-drawn carriages on set flipped over while filming.
And it didn’t end there.
The Accidental Shooting on ‘Ned Kelly’ Could Have Been Way Worse for Mick Jagger
On this very day in 1969, Mick Jagger was nearly fatally injured when a prop gun backfired in the singer’s hand when it was fired. The prop pistol was loaded with blanks, but as we all know, even prop pistols can be fatally dangerous. Especially old-school prop guns from back in the 1960s. If the gun had been improperly loaded and backfired in a different position, Jagger could easily have been struck in the chest and very seriously injured.
After the accident, Jagger was rushed to a nearby hospital. There, doctors managed to remove a large chunk of metal that was embedded in his hand. Thankfully, he was able to be released soon after. The injury did not cause any lasting effects for Jagger’s hand.
After getting shot, dealing with singed costumes, watching two of his co-stars (one being his girlfriend) almost kick the bucket, and dealing with a sick crew, the end result of Mick Jagger’s dalliance with cinema was a flop. Ned Kelly received negative reviews from critics and didn’t make much money in the end.
Photo by United Artists/Getty Images
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