Death is arbitrary. Death comes to us all. Death doesn't care about wealth or class. Death doesn't care about previous engagements or things left undone, and death certainly doesn't care whether you have a movie opening.

Although Heath Ledger is the most recent high-profile performer to have a movie open after his or her untimely demise, he is far from the first. Cinema history is littered with personalities who never quite made it to red-carpet night. Here are some films with work by directors or actors who died before the production was released:

GIANT (1956): The last of the three films made by James Dean stars the future poster boy for rebellious youth as a penniless cowboy whose feud with a rancher family comes to a head when his oil well comes in. The film earned Dean an Academy Award nomination he never lived to see.

IL POSTINO (1995): A sweet and lyrical love story about a shy postman who learns to woo from the famous poet Pablo Neruda. The film starred Italian actor Massimo Troisi as the titular postman. Although aware he was suffering from advanced heart disease, the actor refused treatment in favor of making this film, and died 12 hours after it wrapped.

EYES WIDE SHUT (1999): The director Stanley Kubrick had just locked his final cut of this film when he died unexpectedly. Eyes Wide Shut is a classic example of Kubrick's jaded sense of humanity and artistic belief that revelations should be discovered rather than delivered on a celluloid platter.

THE MISFITS (1961): The final film for both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, this story of broken people coming together in the vanishing American West was released before Monroe's death but after Gable's. His portrayal of a lonely cowboy looking for a way to connect in the modern world was one of his finest performances.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942): This propaganda comedy about a Polish theater troupe's unlikely assault on Nazi Germany featured Jack Benny and Carole Lombard as married thespians. It is the final example of Ms. Lombard's sterling comedic timing. She died in an airplane crash before the film was released.