Rivera, move in with them. In a darkly ironic twist of fate, The Royal Family‘s original name was Chest Pains, which is what Foxx felt on October 11, 1991, when he suffered a heart attack on set. He died later that evening. Originally, producers decided to end the show out of respect to Foxx (well, that, and the fact that he had only filmed seven episodes), but they changed their minds and The Royal Family ran for six more episodes, with an added emphasis on new cast addition Jackée Harry. CBS canned the show with two episodes left unaired.

John Spencer, The West Wing

John Spencer, who won an Emmy for his work as White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry on The West Wing, died of a heart attackin December 2005. He only appeared in a handful of season seven episodes, and as a way of writing his character off, McGarry was said to have suffered an off-screen heart attack of his own on Election Night. His name remained in the credits during the show’s final season, so even though he was dead, he still had to suffer through the indignity of the Aaron Sorkin-less West Wing.

Harry Goz, Sealab 2021

To one generation, Harry Goz was a Broadway legend. To another, less Teyve-inclined one, he’s forever the voice of Captain Hazel “Hank” Murphy on Matt Thompson and Adam Reed’s wonderful Sealab 2012. After Goz died in 2003, during season three, Captain Murphy went off to fight in the Great Spice Wars. Sealab 2021 continued on Adult Swim