Eric Fleming first rose to prominence for playing Gil Favor on the CBS Western series Rawhide, alongside Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates. After seven seasons with the show, Fleming was fired, reportedly because the ratings had started to slip; he ended up landing very few other roles prior to his untimely death in 1966. That same year, Fleming had a part in the Doris Day comedy The Glass Bottom Boat and appeared in three episodes of Bonanza.
However, Fleming’s final credit was for an episode of a Wizard of Oz-themed TV show that never aired because it ultimately cost him his life.
Off to See the Wizard was a short-lived anthology series featuring animated versions of the characters from The Wizard of Oz, who would introduce a variety of live-action feature films broken down into separate hour-long episodes. Fleming eventually signed on to star in a two-parter entitled High Jungle, which was to be shot on location in Peru. According to IMDb, High Jungle (or what was filmed of it) was directed by Tom McGowan and co-starred Anne Heywood and Nico Minardos. Set in 1850, the story revolved around two men going into a remote jungle in order to find a young girl being held captive by Indians.
Eric Fleming Drowned While Filming the Final Role of His Career
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the project was never completed. On September 28, 1966, Fleming and Minardos were shooting a scene aboard a canoe on the Huallaga River, 340 miles northeast of Lima. At some point in the process, the boat unexpectedly flipped upside down, leaving the actors at the mercy of the swiftly flowing water. Though Minardos was fortunately able to swim to safety, Fleming wasn’t so lucky.
By October 1, the U.S. Embassy reported that Fleming’s body had been swept away by the current and search parties were still looking for him. His remains were finally recovered downstream a few days after the accident. Fleming was just 41 years old at the time of his death. His body was said to have been donated to the San Fernando Medical School at the National University of San Marcos in Lima.
To this day, none of the footage Fleming shot during production has surfaced.
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