Jack Nance (1943-1996)

Jack Nance - who starred in David Lynch’s surrealist horror ‘Eraserhead’ - died when he was 53 on 21 December, 1996.

Nance had got into an altercation with two men in the morning and later in the afternoon he met with friends for coffee.

Arriving with a black eye, the actor told his friends that he'd gotten into a brawl and had "got what I deserved".

The day continued normally, but his body was found less than 24 hours later in his apartment. Eventually, authorities determined that the severe blows to his head contributed to his passing, as he had also refused to go to a hospital. The people involved in the fight were never identified.