MovieChat Forums > The Day After (1983) Discussion > I always wondered about Nurse Bauer's de...

I always wondered about Nurse Bauer's death

posted 8 years ago by charlesadams1
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For years I figured JoBeth Williams must have had some prior engagement or job and left the production early cause her character of Nurse Bauer didn't seem to have suffered much at all physically and then all of a sudden BOOM she's dead (?) The other doctor told Jason Robard's character that she died off-camera of meningitis (presumably from treating other sick people). Then I see that they supposedly filmed a scene with her dying but then cut it from the final print. Course even if she hadn't died from that she'd probably have died of starvation (or at least scurvy... cause no more oranges).

[–] greg-233 8 years ago

"Course even if she hadn't died from that she'd probably have died of starvation (or at least scurvy... cause no more oranges)."

There's a good chance that every speaking character in the film would have died within 10 years. Except for the president, maybe. Perhaps he and his staff managed to relocate to that emergency headquarters, wherever it was.

[–] znapper 8 years ago

This can be explained by referring to clipping and editing.
Her death could have been cut out from the finished film, due to the film-length and relevance of her death to the story.

They may have thought that the impact of having someone, seemingly healthy, die suddenly of trivial causes, added to the film.

I also think I recall seeing the lead character (doctor) asking for her, and they told him that she was gone and why, after all we are seeing much of the hospital-scene trough his eyes so.....if he was out of it, the viewer didn't get much news either.

Or similar.

I really don't think she left the project due to other engagements, the 80's wasn't like that :P