13 Actors Who Were Brought Back To Life With Special Effects In Movies

For 1982's "The Trail of the Pink Panther," filmmakers had a tough decision to make.

They could either replace Peter Sellers' most-famous role of Inspector Clouseau or somehow use him for the film even though he died two years earlier.

Filmmakers chose to use deleted scenes and archived footage from 1976's "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" to fill in where Sellers would have played the famed sleuth. They even had a body double wear bandages over his face.

The film was ultimately dedicated to Sellers, stating, "To Peter... the one and only Inspector Clouseau."

Philip Seymour Hoffman's death earlier this year left "Hunger Games" fans curious about what will happen to Hoffman's scenes in 2015's "Mockingjay - Part 2."

Lionsgate plans to digitally recreate Hoffman's character, Plutarch Heavensbee, which will allow for the film to finish some key scenes.

But as veteran effects supervisor Rob Legato told The Hollywood Reporter, while today's technology makes it a lot easier to use someone's likeness, it will be very hard to replace Hoffman's acting ability.

The film will debut November 20, 2015.

For 2000's "Gladiator" the special effects team not only had to create the Roman Colosseum, but also Oliver Reed's performance using CGI to deal with the actor's sudden death.

"When he died, we had to make sense of the whole end of the film," visual effects supervisor Rob Harvey told the BBC.

After rewrites, body doubles and Reed's performances from various scenes from "Gladiator" were pieced together in order to make it all work.

"It was a clever bit of directing and scriptwriting," Harvey sad. "We just tried to do it as tastefully as possible."

Director Josh Newton and makeup artist Louis Lazzara had a tough issue to face when the actor passed, but found a way to keep the actor alive on screen using special effects and makeup.

"It's just one scene and it would be done using photo-realistic imagery of Roy," Newton told the Daily Mail about the scene.

The family of the late actor gave the director permission to recreate Scheider using CGI while the film was in production.

Bruce Lee's death came as a shock to most fans of the martial arts actor, and even more so to the team behind his final film, 1978's "Game of Death."

Production had to figure out a way to keep its main star in the picture even though he had passed.

The answer was a mix of practical effects, body doubles, and even a cardboard cut-out of Lee's face attached to a mirror for one scene.

The film also included documentary footage from Lee's actual funeral and incorporated it into the plot of the film.

Bruce Lee's son Brandon also tragically passed away while working on a film.

A mishap on the set of 1994's "The Crow" cost the actor his life when a prop gun's blank cartridge dislodged the tip of a doctored "dummy" made from live ammunition that remained in the weapon from a previous use.

The production was halted, but later resumed using CGI and body doubles to finish the young actor's scenes for the film.

The film was later dedicated to Lee and his fiancé, Eliza.

Livia Soprano was a crucial part of the first two seasons of "The Sopranos," so when actress Nancy Marchand died in 2000, producers had to think of a way to send off the character properly.

The creators chose to use CGI and existing footage of the actress to give the character one last scene in the season three episode, "Proshai, Livushka."

Many felt the effect wasn't properly done, but the show was still able to give Livia Soprano closure.

1994's "Wagons East!" was John Candy's final film after he passed away on set in Mexico.

In order to finish Candy's scenes, filmmakers used special effects and at one point even reused the same exact footage of Candy spilling out a bottle but with different backgrounds.

The use of technology was controversial at the time, but the director of the film told The Daily Gazette he felt Candy would have been "very impressed" with his performance.

One of Marlon Brando's most famous roles was that of Superman's father, Jor-El in 1978's "Superman: The Movie."

That's why in 2006's "Superman Returns" director Bryan Singer chose to pay homage to the actor's performance by having him reprise his role ... even though Brando died in 2004.

Singer and the special effects crew recreated Brando by utilizing unused footage from previous Superman films and CGI to digitally add him to the new film.

"Fast & Furious 7" is one of the most anticipated films of 2015, so when Paul Walker tragically passed away last year, it left a glaring hole in the upcoming sequel.

When production resumed Monday, filmmakers decided to "retire" Walker's character by using body doubles and CGI to replicate his performance.

“They have hired four actors with bodies very similar to Paul’s physique,” one source told the New York Daily News. “Paul’s face and voice will be used on top using CGI.”

The film will hit theaters on April 10, 2015.

For a 2014 Galaxy chocolate commercial, the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" star was digitally recreated thanks to advanced VFX techniques some 21 years after her death.

A production company called Framestore created the effect by building a 3-D model of Hepburn using her films, images, and other footage as a basis.

Even though Hepburn's "feline eyes and trademark smile" were the most difficult to recreate, a full CGI rendering allowed for Hepburn to hear "Moon River" one more time.

Grace Kelly died in 1982 and Marilyn Monroe passed away 20 years before that, but that didn't stop either from being in a 2011 Dior perfume ad.

Computer-generated technology spliced with actual footage of the two was used to bring the two back to life.

Charlize Theron, who was the real thing in the commercial, told The Hollywood Reporter the entire ad was "incredibly glamorous and fantastic."

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